DavidHarsent.com

Short Biography

David Harsent has published nine collections of poetry. The most recent, Legion, won the Forward Prize for best collection 2005 and was shortlisted for both the Whitbread Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize. His Selected Poems appeared from Faber in June 2007. His work in music theatre has involved collaborations with a number of composers, but most often with Harrison Birtwistle, and has been performed at the Royal Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Proms and on Channel 4 TV. A new opera, The Minotaur (also with Birtwistle) opened to spectacular reviews at the Royal Opera House in April 2008. Work in progress includes a novel, The Wormhole, and a new collection of poems.

Harsent also writes crime fiction and screenplays under the pseudonym David Lawrence. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2005 was appointed Distinguished Writing Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University.

Awards

1967 — Eric Gregory Award
1970 — Arts Council Writers' Award
1977 — Geoffrey Faber Memorial — Prize Dreams of the Dead
1978 — Arts Council Writers' Award
1988 — Society of Authors Travel Award
1998 — Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) — A Bird's Idea of Flight
1998 — T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) — A Bird's Idea of Flight
2002 — Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) — Marriage
2002 — T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) — Marriage
2005 — Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) — Legion
2005 — T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist) — Legion
2005 — Whitbread Poetry Award (shortlist) — Legion
2007 — Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist) — The Hut in Question
2008 — Griffin Prize (Canada shortlist) — Selected Poems 1969-2005
2008 — Cholmondeley Award