Jane McKie Awarded the 2011 Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize

Polygon is absolutely delighted to announce that Jane McKie has won the 2011 Edwin Morgan Poetry Prize for her poem Leper Window, St Mary the Virgin.

Jane McKie

Exactly one year on from the sad death of Edwin Morgan, Scotland’s first Makar or Poet Laureate, Jane was announced as the winner at a special event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Her poem was chosen from 1200 entries. The prize - £5000 – is one of the largest of its kind and is sponsored by Strathclyde University.

Judge Vicki Feaver said of Jane’s poem, "Each stanza leads the reader a little further on a vivid sensual and historical journey from a world where leprosy is no longer a scourge to a world where its sufferers went on pilgrimages in search of healing. It's a poem about touch - one of the most difficult senses to write about. The untouchable lepers, the God who 'did not touch', and the touch of the lepers on the ledge of the church window 'the lip of sandstone ... purled (wonderful word!) with fissures'.

To read Jane’s winning poem - Leper Window, St Mary the Virgin – and the other shortlisted poems go to edwinmorganpoetrycompetition.co.uk/shortlisted-poems. Jane's collection of poems When the Sun Turns Green is available from Polygon.

Jane McKie Shortlisted for 2011 Edinburgh Morgan International Prize

Polygon is absolutely thrilled to announce that Jane McKie has been shortlisted for the 2011 Edwin Morgan International Poetry Prize for her poem Leper Window, St Mary the Virgin.


Jane McKie

One of the judges, Vicki Feaver, said of it, “I think it was Coleridge who defined poetry as 'the best words in the best order'. This short and beautifully constructed poem follows that definition perfectly. Each stanza leads the reader a little further on a vivid sensual and historical journey from a world where leprosy is no longer a scourge to a world where its sufferers went on pilgrimages in search of healing.”

Jane’s poem is one of five – all by female poets – shortlisted for the £5, 000 prize which attracted over 2000 poems from 900 poets from around the world. The winner will be announced on 17th August at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, whose director Nick Barley said the shortlist "reflects the high quality of contemporary poetry".

The complete shortlist, which can be read here, is:
Four Sisters: Sargent's The Daughters of Edward D Boit by Jane Yeh
Leper Window by Jane McKie
Loving Medusa by Gillian Andrews
Ossuary by Lydia MacPherson
Remains by Sarah Jackson

When the Sun Turns Green
by Jane McKie

Congratulations to Jane, and everyone on the shortlist, from everyone at Polygon.
Jane’s collection When the Sun Turns Green was published by Polygon in 2009.