The Keats-Shelley Memorial Association has recently announced the shortlist for their prestigious Keats-Shelley Prize 2017. The prize was established in 1998 and is an annual competition for poems and essays on Romantic themes. This year the theme is ‘To a Friend’ in order to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the publication of John Keats’ first poetry anthology. Several of the poems in that volume were dedicated to his brothers and friends, reflecting on his relationships with key people in his life as he transitioned into the Romantic poet we know him as today.

We are delighted to see that our former poet and artist in residence Charlotte Walker has been shortlisted for her poem ‘Projection’, and our next poet in residence Cahal Dallat has been shortlisted for his poem ‘Giant’.

One of the former highly commended winners from our Charles Causley International Poetry Competition 2015, Kirsten Irving, has also been shortlisted for her poem ‘Kase-Obake’. We are thrilled to see so many Charles Causley Trust alumni enjoying success in the same competition and hope their association with Cyprus Well has been a source of inspiration and support in their writing.

The winner is to be announced by Chair of Judges Baroness Floella Benjamin on the 24th April at the Keats-Shelley Awards Ceremony at the Society of Antiquaries in London. We wish all those shortlisted the best of luck and very much look forward to hearing the results next Monday.