"Let In The Stars" nominated for national award

AN anthology of work by winners of the 2014 Manchester Writing for Children Prize has been nominated for a national award.

Let In The Stars features the best submissions made to the competition, which is run by the Manchester Writing School at MMU.

And now the collection has been shortlisted for the Children’s Poetry Prize, the only award in the UK for published children’s poetry.

The prize is organised by the Centre for Literacy in Primary Education (CLPE) and was established in 2003 to ensure that children’s poetry has a recognised place within children’s literature. Previous winners of the prize include: Roger McGough, Philip Gross, Carol Ann Duffy, Jackie Kay, John Agard and Grace Nichols.

A real treasure

The judging panel is chaired this year, by Roger McGough and also includes Tony Mitton, winner of the award in 2014, Tony Bradman, children’s author and chair of the Siobhan Dowd Trust; Allie Esiri, poetry expert, anthologist and actor and Charlotte Hacking, poetry and children’s literature expert at CLPE.

The collection was the brainchild of Mandy Coe, who has launched a campaign to “save children’s poetry” with the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, which is organised by the University.

Mandy said: “I’m so happy! All of the featured poets will be thrilled – as will our designer, Anna Evans, and Imtiaz Dharker and Philip Gross, who helped me choose the poems, and Carol Ann Duffy, who backed this project from the start.

“I’m so pleased I came to Carol Ann, James, Kaye and the team at MMU with this campaign. They took direct action – although it was a leap of faith! – and now we have our beautiful book of poems. What a gathering of talent and good intent. This book is a real treasure.”

Powerful collection

James Draper, manager of the Manchester Writing School and director of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, said: “What’s particularly great is that this book combines the work of 30 brilliant poets from across the globe (the UK, Australia, Canada, Uganda, the USA), work that might not otherwise have had the chance to be seen, with the very best of what MMU has to offer in terms of book production.

“The illustrations done by our Manchester School of Art students compete with the best of anything you would see on bookshelves out there today. It’s a powerful collection and a stunning object.”

Kaye Tew, director of the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, said: “Mandy came to us with a clear vision of what she wanted for this anthology, and she galvanised our team with her passion and commitment to the project. It really is important that poetry written for children is taken seriously and that new poetry – and new poets – are given platforms to present their work and build careers. We’re delighted that the book has been recognised by this short-listing.”

Roger McGough, Poet and Chair of the CLPE Poetry Award Judges commented: “The judges were excited by the variety and quality of the poetry in the books submitted for this year’s award and a spirited discussion took place before we arrived at our shortlist. However, once again we were sorry that there were not more submissions and that so few publishers are producing poetry books for children and young people. It is essential that organisations such as CLPE continue to highlight the importance of published children’s poetry and give it the status it deserves in schools and in the world of children’s literature.”