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The Guernsey Literary Festival is pleased to announce the winners of “Poems on the Move”, the eighth Guernsey International Poetry Competition, sponsored by Browns Advocates. The first prize in the Open category went to Julian Dobson from Sheffield, Simon Crowcroft from Jersey won first prize in the Channel Islands category and Bathsheba Lockwood Brook from Derbyshire scooped the first prize in the Young People’s category. Among the winners is Guernsey entrant Heather Després, who was second in the young poets' class.
We were delighted to receive over 700 entries from all over the world including the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight, the Isle of Man, England, Wales, Scotland, the Shetlands, Ireland, Europe and from as far afield as the US and Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Japan.
The winning poets will now get the chance to see their poems ‘on the move’ around Guernsey. A total of 33 poems will be displayed on the island’s buses and at various public places later this year.
Livia Bleucher from the Guernsey Literary Festival said: “We would like to thank to our sponsor Browns Advocates for their continued generosity, filter judge Candy Neubert for her excellent help and advice, and to our featured judge Ian McMillan for his delightful selection of poems.”
Ian McMillan, the competition judge, will be visiting Guernsey from 23-25 May 2016 to preside over the Winner’s Reading, where you will hear the winning poets read their work. He will also deliver a creative writing workshop, visit schools and host an evening event where he will perform a variety of his work, answer questions and conclude the evening with a book signing.
Ian McMillan is one of Britain's best-loved poets, performers, broadcasters and entertainers. The host of The Verb, BBC Radio 3's Cabaret of the Word and in-house poet for Barnsley Football Club, McMillan has been lauded as a 'national treasure' and 'world class' by his contemporaries. He is a prolific author, with dozens of publications to his name.
He has a strong interest in local language; his 2015 book ‘Neither Nowt Nor Summat’ explores the meaning of Yorkshire, and he has showcased Guernésiais on Radio 3 in the past. His latest collection of poems ‘To Fold The Evening Star’ comes out on 28 April 2016.
He has been described as “an inspiring figure, an encouraging & democratic spirit, and one of the funniest people in Britain” by Poetry News.
