Carol Ann Duffy and Guests

A night of poetry with the Poet Laureate and two emerging poets

Carol Ann Duffy has been Britain’s Poet Laureate since May 2009. Her much-loved poems blend humour and warmth with sharp social commentary. At this event she reads her poems alongside two emerging poets whose work she admires, Keith Hutson and Mark Pajak. They are introduced by Fiona Sampson, Director of the Roehampton Poetry Centre.

Born in the Gorbals in 1955, Carol Ann Duffy has been Poet Laureate for the past eight years. Her poems blend humour and warmth with sharp social commentary and are on GCSE and A-level syllabuses. Her work has been garlanded with prizes, including the Forward Prize, the T S Eliot Prize and the PEN/Pinter Prize in 2012.

Since starting to submit his poetry to journals three years ago, Keith Hutson has had work published in Magma, The North, The Rialto and Stand. His debut pamphlet, Routines, has recently been published by Poetry Salzburg.

Mark Pajak, born in Merseyside, has had poetry published in Magma, The North and The Rialto, and won first place in the 2016 Bridport Prize. His first pamphlet, Spitting Distance, was selected as a Laureate’s Choice and is published with smith | doorstop.

In partnership with The Royal Society of Literature and Roehampton Poetry Centre and sponsored by the T S Eliot Estate