Sarah Howe Awarded T.S. Eliot Prize

Last Friday, we linked over to Dai George's Boston Review post that looked into the context surrounding this year's T. S. Eliot prize. And yesterday we learned the prize went to... Sarah Howe for her debut collection Loop of Jade. From BBC News:

Loop of Jade is described as an intimate exploration of Howe's Anglo-Chinese heritage through her journeys to Hong Kong to discover her roots.

Howe, 33, took away £20,000 in prize money, while the nine others on the shortlist won £1,500.

The prize started in 1993 for the 40th anniversary of the Poetry Book Society.

The award is judged by a panel of established poets. Pascale Petit, who chairs the panel, said Howe "brings new possibilities to British poetry".

"In a year with an incredibly ambitious and diverse shortlist, it was difficult to choose the winner. However, Sarah Howe's Loop of Jade shone with its startling exploration of gender and injustice through place and identity, its erudition, and powerful imagery as well as her daring experiment with form."

Be sure to read an excerpt from Loop of Jade here. You'll of course remember Howe's Harriet contribution from December, "Duck/Rabbit." Congrats, Sarah Howe!