Forward Prizes

Join jury chair, celebrated novelist, columnist and activist Fatima Bhutto at Contact as she hosts the presentation of the UK and Ireland’s most coveted poetry prizes

The Forward Prizes are an unmissable fixture on the literary calendar – a celebration for all who want to discover and enjoy the best contemporary poetry.

All of the shortlisted poets are invited to read on the night:

Best Collection – Kaveh Akbar (Pilgrim Bell), Anthony Joseph (Sonnets for Albert), Shane McCrae (Cain Named the Animal), Kim Moore (All the Men I Never Married), Helen Mort (The Illustrated Woman)

The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection – Mohammed El-Kurd (Rifqa), Holly Hopkins (The English Summer), Padraig Regan (Some Integrity), Warsan Shire (Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head), Stephanie Sy-Quia (Amnion)

Best Single Poem – Louisa Campbell, Cecilia Knapp, Nick Laird, Carl Phillips, and Claire Pollard

This year’s judges – Fatima Bhutto, Rishi Dastidar, alice hiller, Nadine Aisha Jassat and Stephen Sexton – read more than 215 poetry collections and 192 nominated single poems to find the most exciting poetry published in the British Isles.