Meet the Poet: Leonie Rushforth

Former Costa and Forward Prize judge Leonie Rushforth joins us on Meet the Poet to discuss her debut collection Deltas, shortlisted for the 2022 Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize for a First Collection.

Using the ever-shifting deltas as a conduit for her observations on movement and separation, Leonie’s poetry explores the majesty of the natural world, its place in or displacement from time, and a human need to be immersed by water.

‘A rich, deeply rewarding poetic experience.’ - Rebecca Tamás

Who is she?

Teacher, writer, editor and poet Leonie Rushforth won the Keats-Shelley Prize in 2003 and was awarded second place in the 2021 Poetry London Prize as judged by Malika Booker.

Her poetry life began when working as an editor on the literary magazine Bananas in 1978. Leonie became a teacher in literature, specialising in contemporary poetry, and went on to be a judge for the prestigious Costa Prize and twice for the Forward Prize, once as chair.

‘Her poems are provisional landscapes, like river deltas, where with language both sidelong and luminous she suggests a way of seeing and measuring distances – temporal, spatial, political – that opens a route not only to individual survival but to humane dialogue and the hope of community.’ - Prototype Publishing

First made available to watch on Facebook and YouTube on Wednesday, 29th June at 8pm.

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