Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944 Forest Hill, South London) is a British poet.

Life

Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her degree. She gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Writing for the Stage (with Distinction) from City College Manchester in 2001.

She taught at University of Kent at Canterbury (1983-5), Queen's University Belfast (1991-3 and 1995-8)), University College Cork (1994), University of Stockholm (1999), and University of Hull. As visiting Professor of Creative Writing, she now teaches at the University of Wales, Bangor. and the University of Hull.

Rumens was Poetry Editor for the publisher Quarto (1982-4) and the Literary Review (1984–1988). Her work has appeared in The Guardian, and Harper's. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984.

Awards

• 1981 Alice Hunt Bartlett Award (joint winner) Unplayed Music
• 1981 New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award An Easter Garland
• 1984 Cholmondeley Award
• 1998 Belfast Arts Award for Literature (shortlist) Holding Pattern
• 1998 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist - A Day in the Life of Farmer Dream)
• 2001 Cardiff International Poetry Competition (Fourth Prize - Kings of the Playground)
• 2001 National Poetry Competition (Stay in Touch)
• 2002 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist)

Works

Poetry

• "Girl, Got; Direct Train; December in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City; Dotage". Acorn 15. Archived from the original on 2008-05-18. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
• A Strange Girl in Bright Colours. Quartet. 1973.
• A Necklace of Mirrors Ulsterman, 1978
• Unplayed Music. Secker & Warburg. 1981.
• Scenes from the Gingerbread House. Bloodaxe. 1982. ISBN 978-0-906427-27-9.
• Star Whisper. Secker & Warburg. 1983. ISBN 978-0-436-43901-8.
• Direct Dialling. Chatto & Windus. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7011-2911-8.
• Icon Waves The Star Wheel Press, 1986
• Selected Poems. Chatto & Windus. 1987. ISBN 978-0-7011-3201-9.
• The Greening of the Snow Beach. Bloodaxe. 1988. ISBN 978-1-85224-062-2.
• From Berlin to Heaven. Chatto & Windus. 1989.
• Thinking of Skins: New and Selected Poems. Bloodaxe. 1993. ISBN 978-1-85224-280-0.
• Best China Sky. Bloodaxe. 1995. ISBN 978-1-85224-337-1.
• The Miracle Diet. Bloodaxe. 1997. ISBN 978-1-85224-418-7.
• Holding Pattern. Blackstaff Press. 1998. ISBN 978-0-85640-638-6.
• Hex. Bloodaxe. 2002. ISBN 978-1-85224-602-0.
• Selected Poems 1968-2004. Bloodaxe. 2004. ISBN 978-1-85224-680-8.
• Blind Spots. Seren. 2008. ISBN 978-1-85411-465-5.
• De Chirico's Threads. Seren. 2010. ISBN 978-1-85411-534-8.
• {{cite book title=The Emigree

Novels

• Plato Park. Chatto & Windus. 1987. ISBN 978-0-7011-3202-6.

Editor

• Making for the Open: The Chatto Book of Post-Feminist Poetry 1964-1984. Chatto & Windus. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7011-2848-7.
• Slipping Glimpses: Winter Poetry Supplement (editor) Poetry Book Society, 1985
• New Women Poets. Bloodaxe. 1990. ISBN 978-1-85224-145-2.
• Two Women Dancing: New and Selected Poems of Elizabeth Bartlett (editor) Bloodaxe, 1995
• Old City, New Rumours: A Hull Anthology (editor Five Leaves Press, 2010

Plays

• Nearly Siberia (Pascal Theatre Company, Newcastle and London, 1989)
• The Freak of the Week Show (EyeSpy Theatre Company, East Didsbury Studio, Manchester, 2001)
• Suzanne Hecabe (Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, 2002).

Translations

• Pencil Letter /Irina Ratushinskaya (translator) Bloodaxe, 1988
• The Poetry of Perestroika. Translator Carol Rumens, Richard McKane. Iron Press. 1990. ISBN 978-0-906228-35-7.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
• After Pushkin (contributor) Carcanet, 2000 with Yuri Drobyshev
• Yevgenii Rein: Selected Poems (translator) Bloodaxe, 2001

Non-fiction

• Self into Song: Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures Bloodaxe, 2006
• Carol Rumens (21 January 2009). "Elizabeth Alexander's praise poem was way too prosy". The Guardian. London.
• Carol Rumens (15 December 2008). "Poem of the week: Darling, Would You Please Pick Up Those Books?". The Guardian. London.
• Carol Rumens (23 August 1992). "BOOKS / Poetry: Carol Rumens on two exciting new collections". The Independent. London.
• Writing Poetry. Routledge. 2006. ISBN 978-0-415-30389-7.

External links

• "Carol Rumens", doollee
• "Poem of the week: Christmas at Sea by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson telescopes the distance between a cosy Christmas scene and a life-and-death struggle on the high seas, Carol Rumens, The Guardian, 24 December 2012