Sue Hubbard

Sue Hubbard is a poet, novelist and art critic based in the UK.

Sue Hubbard
Born1948 (age 72–73)
London, England
OccupationPoet
NationalityBritish
Alma materUniversity of East Anglia
GenreNon-fiction
Website
suehubbard.com

Hubbard has published three collections of poetry with her fourth due from Salmon Press, Ireland in 2020, three novels, a collection of short stories and a book on art. She has written for Time Out, The New Statesman, The Independent and The Independent on Sunday. Her poems have been read on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 and recorded for The Poetry Sound Archive.

The Poetry Society's only official Public Art Poet, her poem 'Eurydice' was commissioned by the Arts Council and the British Film Institute for the walls of the underpass that leads to the IMAX cinema. This formed part of the regeneration of the South Bank designed by architect Bryan Avery.[1] In 2009 the poem was painted over[2] and then a campaign was launched to restore the poem on the walls of the underpass.[3]

Hubbard's novel Rainsongs was published in 2018 Duckworth London and Overlook NY. Hubbard has described it as 'a novel about my abiding themes: love, loss and redemption'.[4]

Background and career

Hubbard was born in London and grew up in Surrey, the eldest of three children, where she attended Claremont School and then Queen’s College, Harley Street, London. Her first job was as a publishing assistant at Pergamon Press Oxford, after which she worked for the National Book League in Albemarle Street, leaving to start her own antique business specialising in 18th and 19th century jewellery.

In 1984, Hubbard moved back to London where she started her career as an art critic writing, first for Time Out, then for The Independent and The New Statesman.

In 1994 she published her first poetry collection and completed her Masters of Arts in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia. Hubbard's poetry collection The Forgetting and Remembering of Air was described by Ellen Bell in the New Welsh Review as 'a stunning piece of work – an achingly moving narrative of love for a child, parent, sibling, lover or icon'[5]

Hubbard has appeared on BBC Radio’s Kaleidoscope, Front Row, The Verb and Poetry Please, and regularly appears on Sky News as an art critic. She has twice been a Hawthornden Fellow.

Reception for Rainsongs

Hubbard's third novel was described as an 'elegiac story of loss and valediction' by The Guardian.[6] Martina Evans of the Irish Times said 'Hubbard’s precise descriptions of the physical landscape are tremendous and moving.'[7] A review in the London Magazine describes the novel as having 'a unique and beautiful emotive quality that shines through its delicately constructed prose.'[8] The Jewish Chronicle praised the novel as 'a subtle, moving exploration of love, loss and parenthood.'[9]

Works

Fiction
  • 2000 - Depth of Field (Dewi Lewis)
  • 2008 - Rothko's Red (Salt Publishing) Short stories
  • 2012 - Girl In White (Cinnamon Press)
  • 2018 - Rainsongs (Duckworth/Overlook)

Poetry collections
  • 1994 - Everything Begins with the Skin (Enitharmon)
  • 2000 - Oxford Poets Anthology (Carcanet)
  • 2004 - Ghost Station (Salt Publishing)
  • 2010 - The Idea of Islands (collaboration with artist Donal Teskey) (Occasional Press)
  • 2013 - The Forgetting and Remembering of Air (Salt Publishing)

Art
  • Adventures in Art: selected writings 1990-2010 (Other Criteria)

Prizes and awards

Prizes
  • 2014 Whitby Poetry Festival. Joint winner with Helen Mort
  • 2002 First Prize in the London Writers' Competition
  • 1999 First Prize in the London Writer's Poetry Competition
  • 1993 First Prize (tied) in the Lancaster Literature Festival

Awards
  • 2009 Hawthornden Fellowship, Scotland
  • 1999 Maeve Binchy Award, The Tyrone Guthrie Centre
  • 1998 Yaddo, USA Ord Foundation Bursary
  • 1997 Yaddo, USA
  • 1997 Hawthornden Fellowship, Scotland

References
  1. "Big Smoke blog – Waterloo underpass poem vandalised". Time Out London. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  2. Hamilton-Emery, Christopher (4 November 2009). "Save a great London poetry landmark". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  3. Kennedy, Maev (18 January 2011). "Waterloo underpass poem to be restored". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  4. "On the Atlantic's edge". Irish Echo. 16 October 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
  5. "New Welsh Review". New Welsh Review. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  6. Davies, Stevie (23 February 2018). "Rainsongs by Sue Hubbard review – healing and loss". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2018.
  7. "Rainsongs by Sue Hubbard review: A pilgrimage during the Celtic Tiger". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  8. "Review | Rainsongs, by Sue Hubbard - The London Magazine". The London Magazine. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  9. Levy, Sipora. "Book review: Rainsongs". The JC. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
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