Karen McCarthy Woolf

Karen McCarthy Woolf
Born1966 (age 59–60)
London, England
Alma materRoyal Holloway, University of London
OccupationPoet
Websitewww.mccarthywoolf.net

Karen McCarthy Woolf FRSL (born 1966)[1][2] is a poet of English and Jamaican parentage.[3]

Early life and education

Karen McCarthy Woolf was born in London to English and Jamaican parents.[1] Her father emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1957 as a part of the Windrush generation, and her experience and identity as a mixed-race woman has informed her poetry.[2]

She has a PhD (2018) from Royal Holloway, University of London: her thesis title was At the centre of the edge : contemporary ecological poetry and the sacred hybrid, and it focused on the work of Louise Glück, Kei Miller and Joy Harjo[4][5]

Writing career

McCarthy Woolf was mentored on The Complete Works poets of colour mentoring scheme initiated by Bernardine Evaristo to redress representational invisibility.[6]

McCarthy Woolf's 2014 book An Aviary of Small Birds was shortlisted for the 2015 Best First Collection award of the Forward Prizes for Poetry[7] and the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize,[8] and chosen as an Observer poetry book of the month.[9]

The poem "Outside" from her Seasonal Disturbances was chosen by Carol Rumens as "Poem of the Week" in The Guardian in December 2017.[10]

In 2019, McCarthy Woolf was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Scholar and appointed as poet-in-residence at University of California, Los Angeles.[11] She is a contributor to the 2019 anthology New Daughters of Africa, edited by Margaret Busby.[1][12]

McCarthy Woolf won second place in the 2020 Laurel Prize for her collection Seasonal Disturbances.[13]

In 2021 she was one of the judges of the 2020 National Poetry Competition.[14][15]

McCarthy Woolf teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at Goldsmiths University.[16]

She was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.[17]

McCarthy Woolf was nominated for the 2024 T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry, alongside Raymond Antrobus, Carl Phillips, Gboyega Odubanjo, Rachel Mann and others.[18]

Selected publications

Authored

  • The Worshipful Company of Pomegranate Slicers (2006, Spread The Word, ISBN 978-0-9540083-2-1)
  • An Aviary of Small Birds (2014, Carcanet Press, ISBN 978-1-906188-14-6)
  • Seasonal Disturbances (2017, Carcanet, ISBN 978-1-78410-336-1)
  • Top Doll (2024, Dialogue Books, ISBN 978-0-349-70345-9)

Edited

  • Bittersweet: Contemporary Black Women's Poetry (1998, The Women's Press, ISBN 978-0-7043-4607-9)
  • Ten: The New Wave (2014, Bloodaxe Books, ISBN 978-1-78037-110-8)
  • Ten: Poets of the New Generation (2017, Bloodaxe Books, ISBN 978-1-78037-382-9)
  • Unwritten : Caribbean Poems after the First World War (2018, Nine Arches Press, ISBN 978-1-911027-29-4)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Margaret Busby Presents: New Daughters of Africa | Part of Get Up Stand Up Now". Somerset House. 9 September 2019. Archived from the original on 20 July 2021. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  2. 1 2 Lowe, Hannah (2018). "Inside the Frame: Women Writers and the Windrush Legacy". Wasafiri. 33 (2): 6–8. doi:10.1080/02690055.2018.1431094. S2CID 166076679 – via Taylor & Francis Online.
  3. ↑ "Karen McCarthy Woolf". Bloodaxe Books. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "Catalogue record for thesis". Jisc Library Hub Discover. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  5. ↑ At the Centre of the Edge: Contemporary Ecological Poetry and the Sacred Hybrid (PDF) (PhD). Royal Holloway, University of London. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  6. ↑ "TCW 1". The Complete Works Poetry. 28 August 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  7. ↑ "Forward Alumni 1992-Present". Forward Arts Foundation. Archived from the original on 24 September 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  8. ↑ "Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize – shortlist". poetrysociety.org.uk. The Poetry Society. 19 October 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  9. ↑ Rumens, Carol (3 December 2017). "Carol Rumens's best poetry books of 2017". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 September 2023.
  10. ↑ Rumens, Carol (25 December 2017). "Poem of the week: Outside by Karen McCarthy Woolf". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  11. ↑ Young, Nina (29 October 2019). "UCLA's newest poet-in-residence to explore intersection of storytelling and law". Daily Bruin. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  12. ↑ Hillhouse, Joanne C. (8 October 2018). "In Company with New Daughters of Africa". Jhohadli.
  13. ↑ "Second Place". Laurel Prize for Poetry in Association with Poetry School. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  14. ↑ "National Poetry Competition". poetrysociety.org.uk. The Poetry Society. 25 March 2021. Archived from the original on 31 March 2021.
  15. ↑ "'Read forensically': A National Poetry Competition interview with Karen McCarthy Woolf". poetrysociety.org.uk. The Poetry Society. 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  16. ↑ "MA Creative & Life Writing". Goldsmiths, University of London. Retrieved 22 May 2024. Other tutors include: Karen McCarthy Woolf
  17. ↑ "McCarthy Woolf, Karen". Royal Society of Literature. September 2023. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  18. ↑ Creamer, Ella (1 October 2024). "TS Eliot prize for poetry shortlist contains 'a strong strain of elegy'". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 November 2024.
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