Westminster Creative Writing Senior Lecturer Dr Hannah Copley was recently shortlisted for the Thomas Stearns (T.S.) Eliot Prize for her poetry collection titled Lapwing. This book brings together etymology and ornithology, the study of birds, to explore climate change, addiction and dissemblance, and environmental and personal grief.
The T.S. Eliot Prize, which is run by the T.S. Eliot Foundation, is the most prestigious prize in British poetry as it is the only major poetry prize that is solely judged by established poets. This year, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing and Course Leader of the Professional Writing MA and Professional Writing with Extended Work Placement MA courses at Westminster, Dr Hannah Copley, was shortlisted among nine other authors. Her shortlisted collection titled Lapwing, which was published by Pavilion Poetry by Liverpool University Press, was recommended for the Poetry Book Society Summer 2024 and has recently been shortlisted for the 2024 Laurel Prize, an annual Award for the best collection of nature or environmental poetry to highlight the climate crisis and raise awareness. The Award ceremony will take place at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on 19 October, which Copley will attend to participate in the Summit Festival.
Copley also has another collection titled Speculum, which engages with archival material and historical records to explore the hidden lives and stories behind scientific progress. It navigates the personal, the historical and the political in an attempt to create an intersectional and activist poetry text. Her work has appeared in publications such as POETRY, The London Magazine, Anthropocene, Under the Rader and many more.
Copley runs poetry events at the University’s Soho Poly in London and is also an editor at Stand Magazine, a Leeds-based publisher, where she initially began her career as a student volunteer.
About the Prize, Dr Hannah Copley said: “I first went to the Southbank Centre to watch the T.S. Eliot Prize readings when I was still a student and had just started to (secretly) write poetry. I left that night certain that it was what I wanted to do. It is therefore a huge honour to be nominated for the prize, and to have Lapwing listed in such wonderful company. Hopefully, some of the brilliant student poets at Westminster will decide that a T.S. Eliot Award nomination is something they’d like to aim for in the years to come too.”
The T.S. Eliot Prize 2024 Shortlist Readings will take place on 12 January 2025 in the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall as part of its literature programme. The prize winner will be announced at the Award Ceremony on 13 January 2025 and will receive a cheque for £25,000. Tickets for the Readings are now on sale and a live stream will also be available.
Copley’s poetry work directly contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 5: Gender Equality, 13: Climate Action and 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Find out more about the English and Creative Writing courses at the University of Westminster.
