Queen's Gold Medal for Welsh poet Gillian Clarke

Gillian Clarke, Wales' national poet, has become the second Welsh winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Mrs Clarke, 73, said she was "humbled" to join names such as WH Auden, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin and Welshman RS Thomas in receiving the honour.

It recognises her body of work which culminated in the collection A Recipe for Water, published last year.

The Cardiff-born poet, who lives in Talgarreg, Ceredigion, will receive her honour from the Queen next year.

She was named Wales' third national poet in 2008 and works as a poet, playwright, editor, creative writing tutor and translator.

She is the author of several volumes of poetry and many broadcast plays. She is resident of Ty Newydd, the writers' centre in Llanystumdwy, Gwynedd, which she co-founded in 1990.

Mrs Clarke said she was "stunned" when she heard she had received the gold medal.

"It is absolutely amazing. I don't win raffles, so I didn't expect this. Some of my greatest heroes have received the award - Auden, Ted Hughes, Derek Walcot, Les Murray, U A Fanthorpe and, at the top of my list, RS Thomas.

"I feel humbled so many wonderful people have received the award and I wondered if I belonged on such a distinguished list, but I thought if RS Thomas can accept, so can I."

'Literary landscape'

Mrs Clarke said only 11 women had received the award, and the medal was a "gift for poetry and for Wales".

Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the medal's judging panel, described her as "part of the literary landscape of this country".

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It is absolutely amazing... I don't win raffles, so I didn't expect this”

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Gillian Clarke

National poet of Wales

Ms Duffy said: "As such, it is easy to take for granted the impact and influence of her work.

"Take an early poem, perhaps, like Letter from a Far Country. First heard on radio and published in the early 1980s, this poem subtly and lyrically describes the everyday household responsibilities of a woman with a full, ordered, demanding life at home and a longed-for, free, dream-like life elsewhere.

"We could read it as a poem about a trapped housewife but it is so much more than that. It is a moving and beautiful statement about freedom and constraint.

"Freedom and constraint - whether writing about women, ecology, politics or the natural world - these are the hallmarks of Gillian Clarke's art."

The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry was instituted by George V in 1933 at the suggestion of the then poet laureate, John Masefield.

The honour is awarded for excellence in poetry for either a body of work or an outstanding poetry collection published during the year of the award.

Mrs Clarke is also known to teenage readers as a selection of her poems have been set for GCSE English for a number of years.

FONTE: BBC News

URL FONTE: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12070426
URL MATÉRIA: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12070426

First woman professor of poetry at Oxford resigns

First woman professor of poetry at Oxford resigns

TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT?: Ruth Padel tipped off two reporters about stories on rival Derek Walcott, sparking an uproar. Allegations of sexism follow her resignation THE GUARDIAN, LONDON Wednesday, May 27, 2009, Page 6

Ruth Padel, the first woman elected as Oxford’s professor of poetry, has resigned following claims she tipped off journalists about allegations that her chief rival for the post, Derek Walcott, had sexually harassed students.

Padel won the vote 10 days ago, but in a statement on Monday night she said: “I genuinely believe that I did nothing intentional that led to Derek Walcott’s withdrawal from the election.”

“I wish he had not pulled out. I did not engage in a smear campaign against him, but, as a result of student concern, I naively — and, with hindsight, unwisely — passed on to two journalists, whom I believed to be covering the whole election responsibly, information that was already in the public domain,” Patel said.

She said she had acted in “good faith” and would have been “happy to lose to Derek, but I can see that people might interpret my actions otherwise. I wish to do what is best for the university and I understand that opinion there is divided. I therefore resign from the chair of poetry.”

The reaction from the literary world was one of sadness. “I think she would have worked very hard in that job, and she had excellent plans,” novelist Rose Tremain said. “In the year that Carol Ann Duffy became the [British] poet laureate, it would have been fantastic to have had the duo. It is a tragedy. But there is a moral question here — and I think it is unanswerable,” Tremain said.

“It’s a pity she has been backed into a corner. What she has done is so much more trivial than her contribution to poetry. This feels malicious and nasty. We ought to be able to look beyond the woman to the poetry,” novelist Jeanette Winterson said.

“This is a way of reducing women; it wouldn’t have happened to a man. But then Oxford is a sexist little dump,” Winterson said.

The poet Jackie Kay said: “This was the first time that we had a woman as Oxford professor of poetry — and she has had to resign over two e-mails. The old boys have closed in on her. It would not have happened to a man, and I am very sad.”

Writer Amit Chaudhuri, one of the supporters of the campaign for Arvind Krishna Mehrotra, the remaining serious contender for the poetry post, said: “I feel bad for Ruth; and I also feel the professorship has been run dry in the worst possible way. One is left with no enthusiasm about the whole thing.

“Though I have had no opportunity to speak about this to my candidate, I am not sure whether he would want to try again, but we will see,” Chaudhuri said. “When something gets involved in a publicity machine there is no saying where it will stop. It was Padel who instigated the publicity machine and it has gone completely out of control. It is very sad,” he said.

The so-called smear campaign saw up to 100 Oxford academics sent photocopied pages from a book detailing a sexual harassment claim made against Walcott by a student at Harvard University in 1982. Widely felt to be the favored candidate of the Oxford English faculty, the Nobel laureate resigned from the race on 12 May.

Commenting on Padel’s decision not to take up the post, Oxford University said: “We respect the decision that Ruth Padel has taken. This has been a difficult chapter for all concerned and a period of reflection may now be in order.”

It is understood the university will hold a fresh election — but probably not in time for a professor to be in post by October, when Christopher Ricks, the incumbent, officially steps down. This story has been viewed 134 times.

FONTE: Taipei Times - Taipei,Taiwan

http://www.taipeitimes.com/

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FOTO in http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/

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O novo professor de poesia de Oxford é uma «ela»

19.05.2009 Literatura
O novo professor de poesia de Oxford é uma «ela»

Depois de Carol Ann Duffy ter sido a primeira mulher em 341 anos a ser distinguida como “poeta laureado” no Reino Unido, é a vez de Ruth Padel ser eleita para um dos cargos literários mais prestigiados em terras de Sua Majestade.

O tempo delas parece estar finalmente a chegar; neste último mês, a presença feminina tem-se feito notar em posições académicas e literárias onde apenas homens tinham tido lugar. Após um concurso controverso para a ocupação do cargo de professor de poesia na prestigiada Universidade de Oxford, foi Ruth Padel a eleita, quebrando uma tradição masculina existente desde a criação do cargo académico, em 1708.

Trineta de Charles Darwin, Padel diz sentir-se «honrada» em aceitar uma posição que já foi ocupada por nomes como Matthew Arnold ou W.H. Auden: «Devo agradecer à universidade e às pessoas que votaram em mim», declarou ao Guardian.

Derek Walcott, que também concorria ao cargo, desistiu na semana passada após a recepção de um dossier enviado de forma anónima a 200 académicos de Oxford, e que continha detalhes sobre um caso de assédio sexual envolvendo Walcott e um estudante de Harvard, que fez as acusações.

Ruth Padel, cujos 297 votos contra os 129 do poeta e crítico Arvind Mehrotra lhe valeram a vitória no concurso, declarou a sua vontade de difundir a poesia por toda a universidade: «Li para estudantes de Física, Zoologia e Antropologia, e todos se mostraram entusiasmados com a Poesia, principalmente com a ligação entre poesia e ciência (...), e isto é o que eu gostaria de fazer, explorar o que é que a poesia pode oferecer a cada aluno, a cada departamento, a cada universidade». O seu desejo passa por «unir humanidades e ciências na variedade e riqueza da poesia».

Assim, e depois da distinção de Carol Ann Duffy, os tempos parecem mesmo estar a mudar no Reino Unido; Ruth Padel ocupará o seu gabinete em Setembro, com uma posição que significa muito mais para o mundo das Letras do que uma simples vitória — significa que o valor académico e literário se sobrepôs à tradição masculina, e que Oxford pode estar certa de ter incluído nos seus quadros um passo gigante para a igualdade de géneros.

FONTE (foto incluída): Rascunho - Portugal

http://rascunho.net/

Une femme poète officielle de la Cour d'Angleterre

Royaume-Uni
Une femme poète officielle de la Cour d'Angleterre
Par Laurent Martinet, publié le 04/05/2009 12:27 - mis à jour le 04/05/2009 12:38

Carol Ann Duffy a été finalement choisie comme Poet Laureat, alors qu'elle avait été écartée il y a dix ans à cause de son homosexualité.

C'est une institution qui remonte au Moyen-Age, au temps des troubadours et des ménestrels chargés d'égayer la Cour. Ben Jonson l'aurait été en 1617, même si le premier Poet Laureat patenté fut John Dryden, en 1670. Le Royaume-Uni a son poète officiel, chargé de composer des poèmes pour les grandes occasions politiques ou diplomatiques. Depuis 1990 et jusqu'au 30 avril 2009, il s'agissait d'Andrew Motion, un homme, comme tous ses prédecesseurs. Mais comme les traditions ont besoin, pour survivre, de se renouveler, c'est pour la première fois une femme, qui plus est homosexuelle, que le "Departement of Culture" a choisi cette fois-ci.

Carol Ann Duffy, la lauréate, avait été écartée au profit d'Andrew Motion, il y a dix ans, parce qu'elle vivait avec une femme. Est-ce le signe d'une brutale évolution des moeurs d'Outre-Manche en dix ans? Peut-être pas, car la nouvelle lauréate, née en 1955 à Glasgow dans une famille modeste, est une poétesse établie, connaîssant le succès depuis le début des années 80. Elle a remporté de nombreux prix et ses textes sont étudiés en classe. Elle ne compte pas remettre en cause la monarchie, déclarant "ne rien avoir contre les reines et les princesses, sans qui les contes de fées n'auraient plus de sens". Et elle se réjouit de recevoir, en plus du maigre salaire qu'elle compte reverser à The Poetry Society, les 630 bouteilles de sherry qui sont dues au titulaire de la charge.

FONTE: L'Express - Paris,France

http://www.lexpress.fr/

FOTO in http://www.britishcouncil.org/

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