| University of Chichester English Department lecturer Dr Isla Duncan has recently taken wing as a poet after years of success in her specialist field of literary criticism.
Isla’s poem, Pigeon’s Egg, has been awarded one of the top prizes in the 2006 Wigtown Poetry Competition, which was judged by the Scottish writer Jackie Kay.
In scooping a place in the top 13 of the competition, Isla’s poem beat off competition from a total of 1,600 entries from all over the world.
As part of the prize Pigeon’s Egg was published in the Scottish newspaper, The Herald, and it will also be included in an anthology of successful entries, which is to be launched later this year.
Explaining the origins of the prize-winning poem, Isla said, “Pigeon’s Egg is about my dad’s recent death, and is also a tribute to his love of nature, more specifically birds.
“My previous publications have all been critical essays, on Canadian women’s writing, and it’s exciting to break into a new field.”
Modestly, Isla paid tribute to the help and inspiration of her English Department colleague, Stephanie Norgate, the coordinator of the University’s MA programme in Creative Writing, whose collection The Hidden River is soon to be published by Bloodaxe.
“Stephanie Norgate, whose creative work I much admire, gave me valuable advice on the craft of poetry-writing,” said a grateful Isla.
She received her prize at a ceremony at the Dumfries and Galloway Arts festival in Wigtown. |
