Litfest

So, hooray, the odds on favourite Carol Ann Duffy is the new Poet Laureate. I’m hoping she’ll bring more changes to the role, as Andrew Motion did in his ten years.

In an interview she gave, it sounds hopeful.

She has already relinquished herself from writing to order at every royal occasion, saying if it doesn’t inspire, she’s not going to write it. But what I particularly responded to was her saying she saw the award being a recognition of the calibre of women poets in the country.

Because of course the big news is that she’s Britain’s first women poet, although invariably not far behind (usually in brackets) is that she’s a lesbian. I like how’s she’s taken this label and stretched it to to fit the wider poetry community. Woman poet, gay poet, Scottish poet, North West Poet, nature poet, over sixty poet – could all be one person. Reductionism doesn’t suit poetry (despite its brevity!).

She says she doesn’t consider herself a lesbian poet, and certainly her poetry doesn’t focus on just sex. In fact her subjects range widely, and this is why, regardless of the political gesture, she has the potential to make such a good laureate, turning her hand to a range of voices, not being afraid to stick her neck out, and already with a huge readership.

Already she has given the annual stipend (of £5000ish) towards a new poetry prize for best first collection – the point at which poets need a boost, a stepping stone to the next stage of their career. An indication of her being the poet’s poet laureate

Let’s hope she puts her imagination to the post and comes up with some entertaining and lasting ways of highlighting poetry to people who are not yet readers.