18/10/2011
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Congratulations to Belfast poet Leontia Flynn, who has been shortlisted by a panel of expert literary judges for this year’s prestigious T S Eliot Prize for her latest collection of poems, Profit and Loss. The book has also recently been selected as the Poetry Book Society Choice for Autumn.
Assisted by an Arts Council Major Individual Award in 2009, Profit and Loss is Flynn’s third collection of poetry and was published in September 2011. The winner of the £15,000 T S Eliot Prize will be announced on 16th January at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Leontia said, “I am very pleased that Profit and Loss was selected as the Poetry Book Society choice for Autumn and on the T S Eliot shortlist. The book was written with the help of an award from the Arts Council Northern Ireland two years ago and the support enabled me to take time out to dedicate to my writing and produce Profit and Loss, a sequence of short private lyrics and a longer poem". Damian Smyth, Head of Drama and Literature, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, said, “This is a fantastic achievement for Leontia. The quality of her work being recognised in this way reinforces her standing as among the very best poets at work in Britain and Ireland today. We trust that by providing £15,000 to each artist through the Major Individual Awards, they can take their careers to the next level and Leontia Flynn’s example shows this is indeed a realistic ambition. Previous recipients of the T S Eliot Prize include Northern Ireland’s Michael Longley, Ciaran Carson, Seamus Heaney and Paul Muldoon. We wish her the very best of luck.”
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