Shortlist for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize announced

Posted on: 05 March 2024

The shortlist for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize 2024 has been announced  by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre. This is the sixth year of the prize, awarded annually for an outstanding debut collection of poetry in the English language.  

Valued at €10,000, the prize is sponsored by the John Pollard Foundation, and administered by the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre in the School of English at Trinity College Dublin. The patron of the John Pollard Foundation is Stephen Vernon, who named the Foundation in memory of his grandfather, John Pollard. The winner will be announced at a ceremony in Trinity on April 11th.  

 The shortlisted publications are: 

• Kevin Graham: The Lookout Post (The Gallery Press) 
• Amy Acre: Mothersong (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc) 
• Declan Ryan: Crisis Actor (Faber & Faber Ltd) 
• Susannah Dickey: ISDAL (Pan Macmillan imprint Picador Poetry) 
• Patrick James Errington: the swailing (McGill-Queen's University Press) 
• Eli Payne Mandel: The Grid (Carcanet Press) 
• Dawn Watson: We Play Here (Granta) 
• Alisha Dietzman: Sweet Movie (Beacon Press) 

Announcing the 2024 shortlist, chair of the judging panel, Professor Eoin McNamee, Director of the Trinity Oscar Wilde Centre said:  “Each year the task of choosing a shortlist becomes more difficult as the work of first-time poets submitted to us grows in assurance, authority and beauty. It is as always a privilege for myself and fellow judges, Vona Groarke, Alice Lyons and Tom Walker to read and debate this work.” 

Previous winners of the prize were Hannah Sullivan (2019); Isabel Galleymore (2020); Diane Louie (2021); Gail McConnell (2022); Victoria Adukwei Bulley (2023)

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