Fiona Benson (poet)

Fiona Benson (born 1978) is an English poet. Her collections have been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2015 and 2019. Vertigo and Ghost (2019) won Forward Prizes for best collection and best single poem.[1]

Fiona Benson
Born1978
Wroughton, Wiltshire, England
OccupationPoet
NationalityBritish
EducationSt. Andrew's University
Notable worksBright Travellers
Notable awardsSeamus Heaney Prize (2015)
Forward Prize 2018 and 2019

Biography

Benson was born in Wroughton, England.[2] She received her Master of Letters and PhD in English from Saint Andrew’s University, Scotland, where she wrote her dissertation on the Ophelia figure in Early Modern Drama.[3] She is resident in Thorverton, Devon.

Benson was a recipient of an Eric Gregory Award in 2006. The award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30. She was included in Faber New Poets (2009) and her debut collection, Bright Travellers was published in 2014 by Cape Poetry.[4]

Benson was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize for her poetry collection, Bright Travellers (2015) and also for Vertigo and Ghost (2019).[5]

Ben Wilkinson, in a review of Bright Travellers for The Guardian, describes Benson as "a poet whose dark imagination mixes solemnity with lyricism, treating the poem as a kind of secular prayer."[6] Themes in Benson's work include "violence and loss, shown most vividly in her accounts of motherhood, are paired seamlessly with moments of great tenderness"[5]

Awards

Work
  • Bright Travellers, Cape Poetry, (2014)[7]
  • Vertigo and Ghost, Cape Poetry, (2019) [7] [1]

References
  1. "Fiona Benson wins Forward prize with Greek myth poems for #MeToo age", Guardian 20 October 2019
  2. "Fiona Benson | Forward Arts Foundation". www.forwardartsfoundation.org. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  3. "Interview: Fiona Benson". Granta Magazine. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  4. Wilkinson, Ben (23 May 2014). "Bright Travellers review – Fiona Benson's first collection of poetry". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  5. "Fiona Benson. The Confessional". The Economist. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  6. Wilkinson, Ben. "Bright Travellers review – Fiona Benson's first collection of poetr". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  7. "Fiona Benson". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  8. "Fiona Benson". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
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