Hong Kong born poet Sarah Howe’s first book, “Loop of Jade”, has won the TS Eliot poetry prize. “Loop of Jade”, which was written about the Anglo-Chinese poet’s journey through Hong Kong to rediscover her Chinese heritage, is the first debut poetry collection to win the prize since its inauguration in 1993.
The chair of this year’s panel of judges, Pascale Petit, said the 32-year-old’s writing was “a startling exploration of gender and injustice through place and identity”, and that she brings “new possibilities to British poetry”.
Howe, a fellow at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute, was presented with a cheque for HKD225,000 (GBP 20,000) at the awards ceremony in London on Monday.
“It is absolutely amazing that it is her first book,” Petit told The Guardian. “It plays wildly with form, and at the same time it is dealing with very topical and difficult subjects – and from a culture which we are not used to seeing in British poetry.”
Howe previously won the 2015 Sunday Times young writer of the year award, while scientist Stephen Hawking read her poem “Relativity” for Britain’s National Poetry Day.
Got a tip? Send it to us at hongkong@coconuts.co
