Skip to content
  • Common Currency
  • Campaigns
    • PENWrites
    • Writers at Risk
    • Writers in Residence
    • Free speech in the UK
  • News
  • Events
  • Translation
    • PEN Translates
    • PEN Transmissions
    • International Translation Day
    • The World Bookshelf
      • Books
      • Authors
      • Translators
    • PEN Presents
      • Issues
      • Books
      • Apply to PEN Presents
  • Prizes
    • PEN Pinter Prize
    • PEN Ackerley Prize
    • PEN Hessell-Tiltman Prize
  • Donate
  • Join
Home > News > Carol Ann Duffy to be awarded the 2012 PEN Pinter Prize

Carol Ann Duffy to be awarded the 2012 PEN Pinter Prize

This year’s PEN Pinter Prize will be awarded to Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy. She will be presented with the prize at a public event at the British Library on 8 October, at which she will read a selection of her poetry, including several new poems. A very limited edition booklet will be published by Faber and Faber and available to the audience at the event.

The PEN Pinter Prize was established in 2009 by international writers’ organisation English PEN, in memory of Nobel-winning playwright Harold Pinter. The prize is awarded annually to a British writer or writer resident in Britain of outstanding literary merit, who, in the words of Harold Pinter’s Nobel speech, casts an “unflinching, unswerving” gaze upon the world and shows a ”fierce intellectual determination…to define the real truth of our lives and our societies.”

Carol Ann Duffy was selected by judges Sir David Hare, Dame Margaret Drabble, Lord Melvyn Bragg, Lady Antonia Fraser and President of English PEN, Gillian Slovo.

Lady Antonia Fraser, Harold Pinter’s widow, comments:
“Carol Ann Duffy is a great poet: in addition we were all struck by Carol Ann Duffy’s propensity for being independent and sometimes awkward, to make important points through her work. She comments on contemporary events directly in a way we do not believe a Poet Laureate has done before.”
Carol Ann Duffy said:
“I am hugely honoured and moved to receive an award which commemorates one of the greatest English writers of the 20th Century.”
Carol Ann Duffy, one of the most significant names in contemporary British poetry, became Poet Laureate in 2009. Her most recent book of poetry is The Bees (2011), winner of the 2011 Costa Poetry Award.

Her prize will be shared with an international writer of courage selected by Carol Ann Duffy in association with English PEN’s Writers at Risk Committee. This half of the prize is awarded to a writer who has been persecuted for speaking out about their beliefs. The winner will be announced at the event at the British Library on 8 October where they will accept their prize alongside Carol Ann Duffy.

The British Library acquired Harold Pinter’s extensive archive in 2007. It is now available to researchers and selected items can be seen on display in the current exhibition, Writing Britain: Wastelands to Wonderlands.

Friday 13th
July 2012

Share

Join our mailing list

Sign up to receive the latest English PEN news and events.

SIGN UP
  • About
  • Privacy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Partners
  • Outreach
  • Jobs
  • Contact us

With thanks to our Core Funders

©1921 - 2023

English PEN is a company limited by guarantee number 5747142 (England & Wales) and a registered charity, number 1125610.

We use cookies to help us improve your experience on our website. By closing this notification or interacting with the website you agree to our use of cookies. ACCEPT Find out more
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT