The Complete Works was a national development programme for Black and Asian poets in England, 2008–2020, created on the initiative of Bernardine Evaristo, which mentored many major prizewinners and went on to inspire similar schemes.

History and purpose

The Complete Works: Poetry was an initiative of Bernardine Evaristo[1] to tackle the underrepresentation of poets of colour in UK poetry in the early years of the 21st century as revealed by the Free Verse Report in 2005.[2] Evaristo stated that "publishers simply weren't publishing poets of colour."[3]

The programme was directed by Dr Nathalie Tetlier, an academic and poet, with funding from the Arts Council of England. Every four years, ten Black and Asian UK poets at the beginning of their careers were selected and offered a programme of mentoring, seminars, literature retreats and publication in a Bloodaxe anthology. Mentors included Caleb Femi and Liz Berry.[4]

The Complete Works Diversity in UK Poetry Conference was held in Goldsmiths University London in November 2017.[5]

Over the period of the programme, publication of poets of colour increased.[6] Complete Works Fellows won three Forward Prizes, two T. S. Eliot Prizes, two Ted Hughes Awards, two Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Awards, a Somerset Maugham Award, a Dylan Thomas Prize, and a Rathbones Folio Prize. Fellows also judged the Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes during this period and published more than 40 collections.[7]

In The Guardian in 2017, Bernardine Evaristo called it "a scheme that actually works."[8] The programme went on to inspire The James Berry Prize [9] and the Manchester Poets of Colour Incubator[10] in 2023.

Fellows

Poets were mentored in three groups.

Group 1 2008

Mir Mahfuz Ali, Rowyda Amin, Malika Booker, Roger Robinson, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Nick Makoha, Denise Saul, Seni Seneviratne, Shazea Quraishi, Janet Kofi-Tsekpo.

Group 2 2012

Warsan Shire, Kayo Chingonyi, Jay Bernard, Sarah Howe, Rishi Dastidar, Inua Ellams, Edward Doegar, Adam Lowe, Mona Arshi, Eileen Pun.

Group 3 2016

Raymond Antrobus, Omikemi Natacha Bryan, Leonardo Boix, Victoria Adukwei Bulley, Will Harris, Ian Humphreys, Jennifer Lee Tsai, Momtaza Mehri, Yomi Sode, Degna Stone.

Publications

  • Evaristo, Bernardine; Nagra, Daljit (2010). Ten: New Poets. Spread the Word. ISBN 978-1-85224-879-6.
  • Woolf, Karen McCarthy (2014). Ten: The New Wave. Bloodaxe Books. ISBN 978-1-78037-110-8. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  • Woolf, Karen McCarthy (2017). Ten: Poets of the New Generation. Bloodaxe Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-78037-382-9.
  • Woolf, Karen McCarthy; Teitler, Nathalie (19 October 2023). Mapping the Future: The Complete Works. Bloodaxe Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-78037-671-4. Retrieved 6 January 2024.

References

  1. ↑ Sethi, Anita (27 April 2019). "Bernardine Evaristo: 'I want to put presence into absence'". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  2. ↑ Kean, Danuta (ed.). "Free Verse Report". Spread the Word. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  3. ↑ Woolf, Karen McCarthy; Teitler, Nathalie (19 October 2023). Mapping the Future: The Complete Works. Bloodaxe Books. p. 4. ISBN 978-1-78037-671-4. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  4. ↑ "Home". The Complete Works: Poetry. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  5. ↑ "The Complete Works Diversity in UK Poetry Conference". The Complete Works: Poetry. 18 August 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  6. ↑ "Research conclusions". The Complete Works: Poetry. 25 October 2017.
  7. ↑ "Research". The Complete Works: Poetry. 21 August 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  8. ↑ "Breaking down the barriers – a new chapter in publishing". The Guardian. 9 December 2017. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  9. ↑ "The James Berry Poetry Prize for emerging poets of colour". Press Office. Newcastle Universtiy. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  10. ↑ "Poets of Colour Incubator". Manchester Metropolitan University. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
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