Welsh poet Rhian Edwards has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize ‘Best First Collection’ 2012 with her debut poetry book Clueless Dogs.
The ‘Best First Collection’ shortlist includes four other poets, Jacob Sam-La Rose, Sam Riviere, Loretta Collins Klobah and Lucy Hamilton. The winner will be presented with £5,000 at an awards ceremony later this year.
The shortlists for the 21st year of the Forward Prize for Poetry, some of the most sought after accolades for both established and emerging poets, was announced last week. Demonstrating the rich variety of poetry being written in English, they include some of the most celebrated poets from around the world, as well the most confident and original voices from an abundant crop of emerging talent.
Delighted Rhian said “Being shortlisted for the Forward Prize for First Collection is nothing short of a poetical dream come true, after all it’s the highest accolade for a first collection of poetry”.
 

Patrick McGuinness’s debut novel The Last Hundred Days has won the 2012 Wales Book of the Year award (English-language).
Patrick was shortlisted along side two other writers, Robert Minhinnick (Seren) with his collection of short stories The Keys of Babylon and Joe Dunthorne Wild Abandon (Penguin).
The Last Hundred Days shows a city struggling to survive an intense moment in its history. Set during Ceausescu’s last hundred days in power, Patrick McGuinness’s accomplished debut novel explores a world of danger, repression and corruption.
Welsh-language Book of the Year winner was Jon Gower with his novel Y Storiwr (The Story Teller).
Categories in poetry, fiction and creative non-fiction were introduced for the first time this year.
Three titles were short listed in each category in both Welsh and English.
Best creative non-fiction winner was Richard Gwyn with The Vagabond’s Breakfast, whilst Gwyneth Lewis won the Roland Mathias poetry award.
Philip Cross, a former Book of the Year winner, topped the people’s choice category with his book of poetry Deep Field.
Lleucu Siencyn, the chief executive of Literature Wales, which stages the event, said it had been nice to reward a wider range of authors this year due to the introduction of the different categories.
“I’d like to congratulate all the other authors too,” she said.
“Reaching the shortlist is quite an achievement, and the excellent volumes on the list reflects the high standard in the world of Welsh publishing today.”

The Wales Book of the Year 2012 winner will be announced Thursday, 12th July at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff at 7pm.
Seren have two books on the Best Fiction shortlist, The Last Hundred Days by Patrick McGuinness and The Keys of Babylon by Robert Minhinnick, and we wish them well. To buy tickets, contact Literature Wales: 029 2047 2266 / [email protected]
More news
Seren have two titles on the shortlist for the ‘dlr Strong Award 2012 (in partnership with Shine) at Poetry Now/ Mountains to Sea’. Eoghan Walls The Salt Harvest and Nerys Williams Sound Archive are shortlisted along side two other poets. The Strong Award is part of Poetry Now at Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival serves to recognise the promise and achievement of both English and Irish language poets.
All shortlisted nominees will read at the Strong Reading during the Mountains to Sea dlr Book Festival 2012 and the prize-winner will be awarded €1,000
The dlr Strong Award, which is in partnership with Shine, is awarded in memory of Rupert and Eithne Strong.
Meet the Author
Saturday 14th July – Sunday 15th July: Rhian Edwards is reading fromClueless Dogs in the Poetry Tent at The Latitude Festival. 3.40pm(Sat) and 4.40pm (Sun). Check website for more details.
Friday 20th July 6.30pm: Join us at Waterstone’s, Cardiff (The Hayes) for the launch of Lightning Beneath the Sea, Grahame Davies’s first poetry collection in English. ‘Departed’, a poem from this collection will be the Guardian ‘Poem of the Week’ starting from Monday 9th July.