John Burnside to chair T. S. Eliot judging panel

John Burnside has been announced as the chair of judges for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019! He will be joined by Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha. The 2019 judging panel will be looking for the best new poetry collection written in English and published in 2019. John Burnside said:

“I take it as a great honour and an even greater responsibility to act as chair for this year’s T. S. Eliot Prize and I very much look forward to working with my fellow judges, Sarah Howe and Nick Makoha, on what promises to be a rich vintage of profoundly musical, vitally engaged and inventive poetry.”

The call for submissions will go out in June, with the submission window closing in early August.

The 2019 T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings will take place on Sunday 12 January 2020 at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall. The shortlist readings are the largest annual poetry event in the UK. The winner of the 2019 Prize will be announced at the Award Ceremony on
Monday 13 January 2020. The T. S. Eliot Prize is the most valuable prize in British poetry – the winning poet will receive a cheque for £25,000 and the shortlisted poets will be presented with cheques for £1,500.