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Caroline Bird

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For the American author and feminist, see Caroline Bird (American author).

Caroline Bird (born 1986) is a British poet, playwright and author.

Life

Bird was born in 1986. She grew up in Leeds and attended the Steiner School in York [1] and the Lady Eleanor Holles School before moving to London in 2001. She studied English Literature at Oxford University and was president of the Oxford Poetry Society. She has given poetry readings at The Royal Festival Hall (with Elaine Feinstein), Latitude Festival, the Wellcome Collection (with Don Paterson), St Hilda's College, Oxford (with Wendy Cope), the Wordsworth Trust (with Gillian Allnutt), Cheltenham Festival (with Clare Pollard) and Ledbury Festival, amongst others. She is currently one of the writers-in-residence for the charity First Story.

Published works

Caroline Bird has published four collections of poetry. Her first collection, Looking Through Letterboxes (published in 2002 when she was 15), is a collection of poems built on the traditions of fairy tale, fantasy and romance. Her second collection, Trouble Came to the Turnip, was published in September 2006 to critical acclaim. Her third collection, 'Watering Can,' received a 'Poetry Book Society Recommendation.’ Her fourth collection, ‘The Hat-Stand Union,’ published in 2013, was described by Simon Armitage as ‘spring-loaded, sad, deadly... explodes with poetry.’

Bird's poems have been published in several anthologies and journals including Poetry Magazine, PN Review, Poetry Review and The North magazine. Her poems and a commissioned short story, Sucking Eggs, have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. A member of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme, Bird is also a playwright. She was part of the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty Six Books where she wrote a piece based upon a book of the King James Bible[2] In February 2012, Bird presented her Beano-inspired show The Trial of Dennis the Menace, featuring original music by Matt Rogers, which was performed in the Purcell Room at Southbank Centre.[3] Autumn 2012 her radical version of The Trojan Women enjoyed a seven-week run at The Gate Theatre, to wide critical acclaim. Her original play Chamber Piece was performed at the Lyric Hammersmith as part of their Secret Theatre Season. In Christmas 2015, her re-twisted telling of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz premiered at Northern Stage, and received a four star review in The Times.

Prizes and Recognition

Caroline Bird was a winner of the Poetry London Competition in 2007, the Peterloo Poetry Competition for three years running (2004, 2003 and 2002), a major Eric Gregory Award in 2002 and the Foyles Young Poet of the Year Award in 1999 and 2000. She was shortlisted for the Geoffrey Dearmer Award in 2001. Caroline was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2008, and was the youngest writer on the list at 21. Caroline was shortlisted again for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2010.[4] Caroline was awarded the honour of "Young Champion" in 2010 at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and attended the "What Makes A Young Champion?" event.[5]

Caroline was on the shortlist for Shell Woman Of The Future Awards 2011.[6]

Caroline is one of the five official poets for the London Olympics 2012. Her poem, ‘The Fun Palace’ which celebrates the life and work of Joan Littlewood, is now erected on the Olympic Site outside the main stadium.

Her original play, Chamber Piece, was shortlisted for The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize 2014.

Bibliography

  • Looking Through Letterboxes, Carcanet Press (2002)
  • Trouble Came to the Turnip, Carcanet Press (2006)
  • Watering Can, Carcanet Press (2009)
  • The Trojan Women, Oberon Books (2012)
  • The Hat-Stand Union, Carcanet Press (2013)
  • Chamber Piece, Oberon Books (2013)
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Oberon Books (2015)

References

  1. ^ Carcanet author page
  2. ^ Bush Theatre project Archived July 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ The Trial of Dennis the Menace Archived January 16, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Dylan Thomas Prize 2010
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Shell shortlist
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