Rising Star: Adam Foulds, poet and novelist

Amid the alarm over this week's John Llewellyn Rhys Prize shortlist, which consisted of six men, the fact that one of the candidates was a 40-page narrative poem, a rare thing in such prizes, was largely missed. But 33-year-old Adam Foulds has already been spotted – by Andrew Motion, who called his poetry "wonderfully weighted and articulate", and by Craig Raine, who said it was "word perfect", among others.

After attending the same school as Hari Kunzru, Foulds graduated from Oxford and the UEA writing programme – having left its poetry course because he was bored by the solipsism of lyrical verse. His debut novel, 'The Truth About These Strange Times', won the 'Sunday Times' Young Writer of the Year Award. Describing his novel in verse, 'The Broken Word' (Cape), Nick Laird said: "It is rare to find such capacious lyricism."