George Szirtes

 

George Szirtes
"I only started writing at the end of my teens, at eighteen. I read a lot of books and poets suggested by my friends. None of us were doing English Literature at A-Level. We were scientists. I suppose Ginsberg and Kerouac and the Liverpool poets would have been early reading for me - but this was all mixed up with a dip into whatever other cheap paperbacks we could pick up at the time. I remember this included Donne, Keats, Rilke, Rimbaud, and the odd individual discovery, such as my friend Ashley's discovery of Thomas Lovell Beddoes', Death's Jest Book! You can't resist such things when you're not yet twenty. It was quite undiscriminating."

 

The Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award is Britain's most prestigious poetry prize for young writers between the ages of 11-17. Each year we look for a hundred of the best young poets in the UK and beyond, as well as some of the most active poetry schools with special prizes for both 11-14 and 15-17 year olds. The closing date each year is 31st July.

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