J. O. Morgan

J. O. Morgan (born 1978) is a poet from Edinburgh, Scotland. The latest of his seven volumes of verse is set in the far future.

J. O. Morgan
Born1978 (age 41–42)
Edinburgh, Scotland
OccupationPoet
Notable worksAssurances
Notable awardsCosta Poetry Award

Works

He is the author of seven poetry volumes, each of which is a single book-length work. His fifth book Interference Pattern was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize,[1] his first book, Natural Mechanical, having won the Aldeburgh Poetry Prize in 2009.[2]

Morgan's third work, At Maldon (2014), revisits the Old English epic Battle of Maldon and details the events that took place on the Essex coast in AD 991.[3] A recording of Morgan reading At Maldon was made for the Poetry Archive on 27 May 2014.[4] He has recited the whole work from memory on several occasions.

Royal Air Force involvement in maintaining the Airborne Nuclear Deterrent in the early Cold War period forms the basis for Morgan's sixth publication, Assurances (2018). It was shortlisted for the Forward Prize[5] and then won the Costa Poetry Award, the judges praising it as "original, compelling, ambitious, highly accomplished and marvellously sustained".

Morgan's most recent work, The Martian's Regress (2020), is set in the far future. It considers "what humans become when they lose their humanity," and explores "what a fragile environment eventually makes of those who persist in tampering with it."[6]

Publications
  • Natural Mechanical (CB editions 2009) ISBN 978 0 9557285 9 4
  • Long Cuts (CB editions, 2011) ISBN 978 0 9567359 2 8
  • At Maldon (CB editions, 2013) ISBN 978 0 9573266 5 1
  • In Casting Off (HappenStance Press, 2015) ISBN 978 1 910131 15 2
  • Interference Pattern (Jonathan Cape, 2016) ISBN 978 1 9107020 2 4
  • Assurances (Jonathan Cape, 2018) ISBN 978 1 7873308 5 6
  • The Martian's Regress (Jonathan Cape, 2020) ISBN 978 1 7873321 4 0

Awards and recognition
  • 2009 – Poetry Book Society Recommendation – Natural Mechanical
  • 2009 – Forward Poetry Prize for First Collection (shortlist) – Natural Mechanical
  • 2009 – Aldeburgh Poetry Prize (won) – Natural Mechanical
  • 2010 – Scottish Poetry Book Award (shortlist) – Natural Mechanical
  • 2012 – Scottish Poetry Book Award (shortlist) – Long Cuts
  • 2014 – Saltire Society Poetry Award (shortlist) – At Maldon
  • 2016 – Poetry Book Society Recommendation – Interference Pattern
  • 2016 – Saltire Society Poetry Award (shortlist) – Interference Pattern
  • 2016 – T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry (shortlist) – Interference Pattern
  • 2018 – Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection (shortlist) – Assurances
  • 2018 – Costa Poetry Award (won) – Assurances

References
  1. Field, John (16 January 2017). "The 2016 T.S. Eliot Prize".
  2. Flood, Alison (7 November 2009). "Poet arrives 'out of the blue' to take Aldeburgh first poetry collection prize". The Guardian.
  3. Parker, Keith (2015). "J O Morgan's 'At Maldon'". Poetry School. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  4. "J. O. Morgan reads from At Maldon".
  5. "2018 Forward Prizes for Poetry 2018". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  6. "The Martian's Regress". Penguin Books UK. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
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