Claire Askew wins Scottish Poetry Book of the Year

Claire Askew wins Scottish Poetry Book of the Year

 

'This is a consummate collection of poems by an emerging young poet. The central theme of the book is the historical persecution of women and men during the witch hunts of the sixteenth century onwards, and this historic context is approached with great sensitivity, comprehension and creativity.'- Judges Patrick Corbett, Hugh McMillan, Dr Anne Pia and Dr Ian Spring on How to burn a woman, winner of Scottish Poetry Book of the Year 2022 (Scotland's National Book Awards)

 

Claire Askew’s 'brilliant' second collection How to burn a woman has won Scottish Poetry Book of the Year 2022 in Scotland's National Book Awards. The announcement was made at a ceremony at The Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh on Thursday 8 December 2022. Co-poetry judge Hugh McMillan presented Claire with her award.

Scotland’s National Book Awards, co-ordinated by the Saltire Society, recognise work across six literary categories (Fiction, Non-Fiction, Research, History, Poetry and First Book) and three publishing categories (Publisher, Emerging Publisher and Cover Design).  The Literary Awards winners each received a cash prize of £2,000 and went on to be considered for the top prize of Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, receiving a further £4,000. 

The Scottish Poetry Book of the Year Judges were Patrick Corbett, Hugh McMillan, Dr Anne Pia and Dr Ian Spring.  They said of the winning title How to burn a woman:

'This is a consummate collection of poems by an emerging young poet. The central theme of the book is the historical persecution of women and men during the witch hunts of the sixteenth century onwards, and this historic context is approached with great sensitivity, comprehension and creativity. However, there is more than this: Scottish topics include the loneliness of the Loch Ness Monster, the Fife wizard Michael Scot, whisky, red kites and Waverley Station. A book full of carefully crafted poems that connect the past with the present and raise intriguing questions about the way we live and have lived.'

The winners of each category received a bespoke Award created by Inverness-based artist Simon Baker of Evergreen Studios.  Winners of all the Awards were announced at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh on the evening of 8 December attended by the judges, shortlisted authors and publishers.

Watch the ceremony via YouTube here. The poetry award was announced from 1:02:22.

For details of all the shortlists, see the Saltire Society website here.

Details of all the winning titles are here.

~~~

The Afternoon Show, BBC Radio Scotland, Friday 16 December 2022, 2-4pm

Claire Askew was a guest on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Afternoon Show on 16 December.  She was talking to presenter Nicola Meighan about her Scottish Poetry Book of the Year-winning second collection How to burn a woman.

Nicola introduced Claire with a description of her winning collection:

‘…a vital, powerful book that commemorates those persecuted for witchcraft over the centuries, along with reflections on being an outsider, on love in its myriad forms, on smiles that cut like knives, and the loneliness of the Loch Ness Monster.
’ – Nicola Meighan, introducing How to burn a woman on The Afternoon Show

Claire was interviewed live down the line from Carlisle.  She spoke about to Nicola about her ancestor Anne Askew, her historical research on those accused of witchcraft and about the parallels she found with the #MeToo movement centuries later. They also discussed the contemporary, personal aspects of the book, and the difference between writing poetry and crime fiction. Claire read and introduced her poem ‘Janet Horne, died 1727’.

Available on BBC Sounds until 4pm on 15 January 2023. Claire joined the programme at 0:43:10.

Listen here.

~~~~

 

The Saltire Society filmed the shortlisted authors reading from their shortlisted books, introduced by comments from the judges. The poetry shortlist video is below.

Claire Askew reads her poem 'Library' from How to burn a woman.  Introduced at 4:21 by co poetry judge Dr Anne Pia.

'There's a great power in Claire's work, and there's a tremendous crafting of imagery. At the same time, her language is simple, but it's intense, and for me she obviously speaks to all generations, but she's a woman of her generation.' - Dr Anne Pia, co-judge, Scottish Poetry Book of the Year 2022 (Scotland's National Book Awards)

 

'Merga Bien' from How to burn a woman was featured as Poem of the Week in The Scotsman on 26 November 2022.

‘This week’s poem comes from Claire Askew’s second full-length poetry book. It’s a stunning collection, full of tenderness, love, righteous indignation and wit.'The Scotsman (Poem of the Week)

~~~~

How to burn a woman is an investigation of power: the power of oppressive systems and their hold over those within them; the power of resilience; the power of the human heart. It throngs with witches, outsiders, and women who do not fit the ordinary moulds of the world. It is a collection which traces historic atrocities, and celebrates the lives of those accused of witchcraft with empathy, tenderness and rage. It lifts a mirror up to contemporary systems of oppression and – in language that is both vivid and accessible – asks hard questions of our current world.

Claire Askew was born in 1986 and grew up in the rural Scottish Borders. She holds a PhD in Creative Writing & Contemporary Women's Poetry from the University of Edinburgh. After living in Edinburgh for many years, she is currently based in Carlisle. Her poems have been selected twice for the Scottish Poetry Library's Best Scottish Poems of the Year. In 2013 she won the International Salt Prize for Poetry, and in 2014 was runner-up for the inaugural Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for Scottish poets under 30 for an earlier version of her first book-length collection, This changes things, which was published by Bloodaxe in 2016. She was shortlisted for the Edwin Morgan Poetry Award for a second time in 2016. This changes things was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society First Book of the Year Award 2016, the Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for First Full Collection 2017 and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize 2017. Claire has been a Scottish Book Trust Reading Champion (2016/7), a Jessie Kesson Fellow (2017) and the Writer in Residence at the University of Edinburgh (2017-2019). Also a novelist, her award-winning Edinburgh-based DI Birch series is published by Hodder & Stoughton. Her second full-length collection, How to burn a woman, was published by Bloodaxe in 2021 and won Scottish Poetry Book of the Year 2022 in Scotland's National Book Awards.

~~~~

For reviews, poem features and interviews with Claire Askew, including a very powerful interview on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week, see here.


The title poem from How to burn a woman was chosen by editor Hugh McMillan for the Scottish Poetry Library’s Best Scottish Poems 2021 feature of 13 April 2022. The poem was accompanied by author and editor notes, and by audio of Claire reading it.  Read and listen to the poem here.


[08 December 2022]


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