Queen's Gold Medal for Jo Shapcott

Tony Jones

Saturday 24 December 2011

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Jo Shapcott has won the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in recognition of her body of work, including her response to a diagnosis of breast cancer, Of Mutability, which was named Costa Book of the Year in January.

The Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the Medal's judging panel, said: "The sparkling Englishness of her poetry manages to combine accessibility with a deeply cerebral engagement with the facets of being human – alert to art and science, life and death."

Shapcott has won several prizes since publishing her first book in 1988, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize.

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