Ben Wilkinson (poet)

Ben Wilkinson (born 1985 in Stafford, England) is a British poet, academic, and critic for The Guardian.[1][2][3] He completed his first degree at the University of Sheffield, and his MA and PhD at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2014, he won both the Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition and a New Writing North Northern Writers' Award.[4] He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Bolton[5] and lives in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. He is a keen amateur distance runner and has written variously on the subject.[6]

Ben Wilkinson
Born (1985-11-30) 30 November 1985
Stafford
NationalityBritish
Genrespoetry, criticism

Works

Poetry
  • The Sparks. tall-lighthouse. 2008. ISBN 9781904551560.[7]
  • For Real. smith|doorstop books. 2014. ISBN 9781910367070.[8]
  • Way More Than Luck. Seren Books. 2018. ISBN 9781781724255.[9]

Edited volumes
  • The Result is What You See Today: poems about running. smith|doorstop books. 2019. ISBN 9781912196814.[10]

Awards
  • 2018 Forward Prizes for Poetry (Highly Commended)[11]
  • 2015 Arts Council England Writer's Grant
  • 2014 Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition[12]
  • 2014 Northern Writers' Award[13]
  • 2010 Picador Poetry Prize (shortlist)[14]

Reviews

It's clear that the love of the beautiful game extends to Wilkinson's poetics, for he embraces a variety of forms and modes of address. From formally dexterous sonnets and sestinas, to epistles and endearing confessionalism, this is a book that likes to keep readers on their toes. Something Wilkinson does well is navigate the dark abyss of clinical depression [...] from "going about / the tedium that strings our lives / together: paperchain people, / baskets lined under strip-lights" ('To David Foster Wallace'), to shivering over a beige Cornish pasty, "ticking over / before some godforsaken motorway service station" ('You Must Be Joking'), there is tenderness and touching honesty to be found in the darker moments he describes. For this reason the collection's title is apt, for its scope reaches way beyond the boundaries of the football pitch and the fabled buzz of excitement, which rather serves as a backdrop against which the poet can stand and inspect the state of his own thumping heart. - Jade Cuttle, The Poetry Review[15]

“I can’t make you feel what I felt” (David Foster Wallace), one of the epigraphs to Ben Wilkinson’s For Real, is a challenge to which Wilkinson rises with considerable success. His poems are like doors “where no door was bricked up”; they frequently make us wonder how he got through. The same is true of his translations, especially “October”, a fresh and convincing version of Verlaine. - Andrew McCullouch, The Times Literary Supplement[16]

Whenever I read Ben Wilkinson’s work I find myself admiring his craft. It carries a precision of thought and expression that’s hard to reproduce, in a syntax which is natural and a voice which is easy to hear, yet the poems abound with subtly used devices and effects. Wilkinson disguises his full-rhymes with enjambment, so the audience experience both form and ‘natural flow’ at the same time. He’s always conscious of form, but rarely lets form dictate to him. - Noel Williams, Antiphon[17]

References
  1. "Ben Wilkinson | The Guardian". The Guardian. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  2. "Ben Wilkinson – Poetry Spotlight". Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  3. "Ben Wilkinson | Seren Books". serenbooks.com. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
  4. "Northern Writers Awards winners 2014". Northern Writers Awards. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  5. "University of Bolton lecturer and poet Dr Ben Wilkinson takes Shakespeare to Seoul | University of Bolton". bolton.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-05-17.
  6. Wilkinson, Ben (2019-08-05). "Ahead of the pack: the best books about running". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  7. "The Poetry Business - The Result is What You See Today". poetrybusiness.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  8. "Realities and Dreams | Poetry London | Clare Pollard reviews For Real and other pamphlets". Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  9. "Way More Than Luck | Seren Books". serenbooks.com. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  10. "The Poetry Business – The Result Is What You See Today: Poems About Running". poetrybusiness.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-09-17.
  11. Axel (2018-09-07). "Creative Writing lecturer recognised in prestigious Forward Prizes". University of Bolton. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  12. "The Poetry Business - Ben Wilkinson". poetrybusiness.co.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  13. "Northern Writers' Award winners share £40k pot | The Bookseller". thebookseller.com. Retrieved 2019-03-24.
  14. "Picador poetry prize: 10 new voices shortlisted". The Guardian. 2010-11-25. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  15. "Vol 108, No 3, Autumn 2018 – The Poetry Society". poetrysociety.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  16. "Pamphleteers". TheTLS. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
  17. "Noel Williams reviews Ben Wilkinson's For Real". antiphon.org.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-27.
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