Poetry shortlist & shadowing scheme announced
Posted on Thursday, April 26, 2018
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The 2018 shortlist for the CLiPPA (Centre for Literacy in Primary Poetry Award) poetry award with poets from John Agard to Sarah Crossan shortlisted and primary schools around the country beginning to shadow the award.
The 2018 shortlist celebrates and highlights the diversity of voices in the UK poetry scene. From debut collections Sue Hardy-Dawson's Where Do Zebras Go and Karl Nova's Rhythm and Poetry, to John Agard's The Rainmaker Danced. The shortlist includes established writers - Sarah Crossan's Moonrise and Joseph Coelho's Overheard in a Tower Block - as well as newcomers, most notably in the Rising Stars collection celebrating under-represented voices publishing their poems for the first time. The shortlist includes three previous winners and three debut collections. Otter-Barry Books, an independent publisher that champions children's poetry, has published three of the six shortlisted books. Louise Johns-Shepherd, chief executive of CLPE, said "CLiPPA is leading an essential movement to build on the current huge popularity of poetry and the growing poetry market to ensure that poetry for children is acknowledged as an essential part of this landscape. "The shortlist recognises not just great children's poets but great poets full stop. We want as many people as possible to know about these wonderful works and CLiPPA, the Shadowing Scheme and the resources we produce all come together to make sure that they receive the high profile they deserve." The free Shadowing Scheme to involve schools in the Poetry Award 2018 has also now launched to encourage and support schools in taking poetry into the classroom. Videos of poets performing from the shortlisted books and talking about their work and free, high quality teaching resources are available via the link, below. Shadowing schools are also invited to apply for free tickets to attend the Award Ceremony. This year has seen an increase in submissions of almost 70%, from 19 books from nine publishers in 2017, to 32 books from 19 publishers in 2018. The full shortlist is: - JOHN AGARD: THE RAINMAKER DANCED, illus by Satoshi Kitamura, published by Hodder "Witty and satirical poems that focus on social observations, play with myths and traditional tales and reflect on the nature of humanity." - RISING STARS: Ruth Awolola, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Abigail Cook, Jay Hulme, Amina Jama, published by Otter-Barry Books, illust by Riya Chowdhury, Elanor Chuah and Joe Manners "A showcase for five fresh and exciting emerging writer-performers." - JOSEPH COELHO: OVERHEARD IN A TOWER BLOCK, illus by Kate Milner, published by Otter-Barry Books "A powerful collection, offering glimpses into the challenges of a boy's life, ingeniously threaded through with fantasy, story, myth and magic." - SARAH CROSSAN: MOONRISE, published by Bloomsbury "A moving verse novel for young adults, seen from the viewpoint of a young man whose brother is on death row." - SUE HARDY-DAWSON: WHERE ZEBRAS GO, published by Otter-Barry Books "A first solo collection uniting a variety of voices with a wide range of poetic forms." - KARL NOVA: RHYTHM AND POETRY, illus by Joseph Witchall, published by Caboodle Books "The first published collection from a Hip Hop poet, demonstrating the currency and significance of rap as a form, especially for young people." Poet Grace Nichols, who won the first ever CLiPPA in 2003, chaired the CLiPPA 2018 judges who included Kate Wakeling, poet and CLiPPA 2017 winner for Moon Juice, Imogen Lycett Green, director of the Betjeman Prize for Young Poets, Charlotte Hacking, CLPE learning programme leader, and Anthony Anaxagorou, poet, poetry educator and founder of Out-Spoken Press. The winner of the 2018 Award will be announced on 22nd June in the Olivier Theatre at the National Theatre in London with the Poetry Show which will include performances from children participating in the Shadowing Scheme and the shortlisted poets. The winner of the Award will receive 1000. Former Children's Laureate, Chris Riddell, will live draw the Award Ceremony. The Siobhan Dowd Trust will be supporting the Shadowing Scheme by helping CLPE to provide free copies of the shortlisted books to selected shadowing schools.
