Liz Berry

Liz Berry
Born 1980 (age 37–38)
West Midlands, England
Occupation Poet
Residence Birmingham
Citizenship United Kingdom
Education Royal Holloway, University of London
Notable works Black Country
Notable awards Forward Prize
Somerset Maugham Award
Eric Gregory Award

Liz Berry is an award-winning British poet. She has published two pamphlets and one full-length poetry collection. Her first poetry collection, Black Country, was named poetry book of the year by several publications, including The Guardian.

Early life and education

Liz Berry was born in 1980 and was raised in the Black Country of England. She trained as a school teacher and initially taught primary school. She became interested in poetry after taking a beginners poetry class at a local college. She later attended the Royal Holloway, University of London, where she earned an MA in Creative Writing.[1]

Poetry career

Berry was a recipient of the Eric Gregory Award in 2009. The award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under the age of 30.[2] Berry's first pamphlet, The Patron Saint of School Girls, was published by tall-lighthouse in 2010. [2] She won the Poetry London competition in 2012 for the poem Bird.[3]

The Republic of Motherhood, Berry's second pamphlet, was published by Vintage Digital in 2018. It won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem.[4]

In 2014, Chatto and Windus published Black Country, Berry's first poetry collection. Black Country won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award.[5] Black Country was selected as poetry book of the year by several publications, including The Guardian.[6][7]

Berry's writing is rooted in the landscape and dialect of the West Midlands. In 2014, Ben Wilkinson in The Guardian summarized Black Country: "It digs deep into the poet’s West Midlands roots, enlivening and reimagining the heritage of that eponymous heartland of iron foundries, coal mines and steel mills, on both personal and public footings".[8]

Currently living in Birmingham, Berry works for the Arvon Foundation and other organizations as a poetry tutor.[1]

Works

  • (2010)—The Patron Saint of Girls, tall-lighthouse, ISBN 9781904551829
  • (2014 )—Black Country, Chatto and Windus, ISBN 9780701188573
  • (2018)—The Republic of Motherhood, Vintage Digital, ASIN B07CN8RDS1

Awards

References

  1. 1 2 Anderson, Natalya. "The Poetry Extension's Poet of the Month". Poetry Extension. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 "Liz Berry b. 1980". Poetry Archive. Retrieved 8 September 2018. .
  3. 1 2 "Autumn 2012: Issue 73". Poetry London. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  4. ↑ "Republic of Motherhood". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "Liz Berry". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "Liz Berry". British Council. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "The Republic of Motherhood". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  8. ↑ Wilkinson, Ben. "Black Country by Liz Berry poetry review – 'love flowed out of me like honey'". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2018.
  9. ↑ Saunders, Tristam Fane. "The year's best poems: The Republic of Motherhood by Liz Berry". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
  10. ↑ "The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize 2014". Faber & Faber. Retrieved 8 September 2018.
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