Summary
Jen Hadfield (born 1978) is a British poet and visual artist.[1] She has published four poetry collections. Her first collection, Almanacs, won an Eric Gregory Award in 2003.[2] Hadfield is the youngest female poet to be awarded the TS Eliot Prize, with her second collection, Nigh-No-Place, in 2008.[1] Her fourth collection, The Stone Age, was selected as the Poetry Book Society choice for spring 2021 and won the Highland Book Prize, 2021.
Jen Hadfield | |
|---|---|
 Jen-Hadfield-001 | |
| Born | 1978 (age 45–46) Cheshire, England |
| Occupation | Poet, Visual Artist |
| Alma mater | University of Edinburgh University of Glasgow |
| Notable works | Nigh-No-Place, Almanacs |
| Notable awards | T.S. Eliot Prize Eric Gregory Award |
Hadfield's poems and visual art are based on her experience of living, working and traveling in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, and Canada.[2] In her work as an artist, she often uses found objects, salvage materials and ocean detritus.[1]
Themes in Hadfield's poems include home and belonging, wildness and subsistence, landscape and language, and the Shetland dialect.[2]
Biography edit
Jen Hadfield was born in 1978 to a Canadian mother and a British father.[3] She grew up in Cheshire, England.[2] She obtained a BA in English Language and Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Later, she was awarded a joint creative writing MLitt (with Distinction) from the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde.[2]
Hadfield has worked as a professional poet since 2002.[4] In 2003, she won the Eric Gregory Award, which enabled a year of travel and writing in Canada.[2] Her first collection, Almanacs (Bloodaxe Books, 2005) was written in Shetland and the Western Isles in 2002, thanks to a bursary from the Scottish Arts Council. Her second collection, Nigh–No–Place (Bloodaxe Books, 2008), inspired by her travels in Shetland and Canada, was awarded the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2008.[5] Hadfield was winner of the Edwin Morgan International Poetry Award in 2012.[6] and selected in 2014 as one of "Next Generation Poets", a promotion organised by the Poetry Book Society. Other honours include the Scottish Arts Council Bursary Award, and residencies with the Shetland Arts Trust and the Scottish Poetry Library.[1][2][7]
Making artists' books has been an integral component of Hadfield's work. She partnered with printer Ursula Freeman of Redlake Press on The Printer’s Devil and the Little Bear (2006), a limited edition handmade book that combined traditional letterpress techniques and laserprint. The book is illustrated with Hadfield's photographs of Canada.[2]
In 2007, a Dewar Award enabled Hadfield to travel in Mexico and research Mexican devotional folk art. She "created a solo exhibition of 'Shetland ex-votos in the style of sacred Mexican folk art' – tiny, portable, insistently familiar landscapes packed in an array of weathered tobacco tins."[2]
Hadfield lives in Shetland, where she works as a poet and writing tutor.[7]
Poetry collections edit
- The Stone Age (Picador, 2021)[1]
- Byssus (Picador, 2014)[1]
- Nigh–No–Place (Bloodaxe Books, 2008)[1]
- Almanacs (Bloodaxe Books, 2005)[1]
References edit
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Jen Hadfield". Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Jen Hadfield (b. 1978)". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 9 January 2018.
- ^ "About Jen Hadfield". The Poetry Archive. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "2007 Awardees". Dewar Arts Awards. Archived from the original on 28 March 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ Bowden, Jen (19 August 2012). "Jen Hadfield wins Edwin Morgan International Poetry Prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ "Previous Winners 2012". The Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
- ^ a b "Next Generation Poets 2014. Jen Hadfield". Next Generation Poets. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
External links edit
- http://www.redlakevalleyartists.co.uk/freeman.htm
- Poetry Archive profile and poems written and audio
- "TS Eliot judge Tobias Hill on the noteworthy Jen Hadfield" by Tobias Hill 14 January 2009 Guardian