The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets are annual awards for pamphlets published in the UK. The awards aim to promote the pamphlet form and to enable poets and publishers to develop and continue creating. Since their inception, they have grown to include three annual awards, for "Poetry Pamphlet", "Publisher" and "Illustration", carrying prizes of up to £5,000, and awarding places on "The Michael Marks Poets in Residence Program" in Greece. Additional awards have included the "Poetry Pamphlet in a Celtic Language" and, as of 2022, the Environmental Poet of the Year prize.
The awards were founded in 2009 by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, in a collaboration with the British Library that continues to this day. They are funded entirely by the Michael Marks Charitable Trust, and are enabled through partnerships between the British Library, the Wordsworth Trust, The TLS and the Harvard Center for Hellenic Studies, and in association with the National Library of Wales and the National Library of Scotland. As of 2012, the awards have been administered by Wordsworth Trust. The Michael Marks Charitable Trust was established in 1966 by the late Lord Marks, 2nd Baron of Broughton.[1] Both awards carry a prize of £5,000.
The Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney praised the prize's establishment:
The award recognises an outstanding work of poetry published in pamphlet form – defined by the Awards as containing no more than 36 pages – in the UK.[2]
The following is a list of shortlisted pamphlets. Winners are listed in yellow, first in their year.
| Year | Author | Title | Publisher | Ref(s) | Judges | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | The Shortest Days | Galdragon Press | [3] | |||
| Bone Song | Aussteiger Publications | |||||
| That Water Speaks in Tongues | Templar Poetry | |||||
| Milk | Pighog Press | |||||
| Whichever music | Tall Lighthouse | |||||
| quot | self-published | |||||
| 2010 | Advice on Wearing Animal Prints | [4] | ||||
| The Terrors | Nine Arches Press | |||||
| David Hart | The Titanic Café closes its doors and hits the rocks | Nine Arches Press | ||||
| Devorgilla's Bridge | Roncadora Press | |||||
| The Reluctant Vegetarian | Oystercatcher Press | |||||
| ballast: a remix | Tall Lighthouse | |||||
| 2011 | Cloud Pibroch | Mariscat | [5] |
| ||
| Apocapulco | Salt Publishing | |||||
| The Motorway Service Station as a Destination in its Own Right | Smith/Doorstop | |||||
| mo thunder | The Knives, Forks and Spoons Press | |||||
| Darkhaired | Templar Poetry | |||||
| Happy Whale Fat Smile | Oystercatcher Press | |||||
| 2012 | Dream Endings | [6] |
| |||
| Largo | Smith/Doorstop | |||||
| Invisible Ink | Mariscat Press | |||||
| The Long Woman | Pighog Press | |||||
| The Bond | Smith/Doorstop | |||||
| 2013 | Gaud | [7] |
| |||
| Petrol Cyan Electric | Smith/Doorstop | |||||
| If We Could Speak Like Wolves | Smith/Doorstop | |||||
| The Escape Artists | Tall Lighthouse | |||||
| Talking Dead | Aussteiger Publications | |||||
| Flying into the Bear | HappenStance Press | |||||
| 2014 | What I Saw | [8] [9] |
| |||
| Dat Trickster Sun | Mariscat Press | |||||
| Earthshine | Smith Doorstop | |||||
| Jazz Peas | Smith/Doorstop Press | |||||
| The Word Museum | Flarestack Poets | |||||
| Lime and Winter | Rack Press | |||||
| 2015 | The First Telling | [10] [11] |
| |||
| Clutag Five Poems Series No. 2 | Clutag Press | |||||
| Advice for an Only Child | flipped eye publishing (flap pamphlet series) | |||||
| The Ascent of Kinder Scout | Longbarrow Press | |||||
| Three Dragon Day | Smith/Doorstop Press | |||||
| 2016 | Richard Scott | Wound | The Rialto |
| ||
| Polly Clark | A Handbook for the Afterlife. | Templar Poetry | ||||
| Fiona Moore | Night Letter | HappenStance Press | ||||
| Camille Ralphs | Malkin | Emma Press | ||||
| Lizzi Thistlethwayte | Angels and Other Diptera | Water Flag Press | ||||
| 2017 | Charlotte Wetton | I Refuse to Turn into a Hatstand | Calder Valley Press. |
| ||
| Natacha Bryan | If I Talked Everything my Eyes Saw. | Gatehouse Press Lighthouse. | ||||
| Alyson Hallett | Toots | Mariscat Press | ||||
| Theophilus Kwek | The First Five Storms | Smith/Doorstop | ||||
| Phoebe Stuckes | Gin & Tonic | Smith/Doorstop | ||||
| 2018 | Carol Rumens | Bezdelki | The Emma Press | |||
| Gina Wilson | It Was and It Wasn't | Mariscat Press | ||||
| Rakhshan Rizwan | Paisley | The Emma Press | ||||
| Ian Parks | If Possible (Cavafy Poems) | Calder Valley Poetry | ||||
| Liz Berry | The Republic of Motherhood | Chatto & Windus | ||||
| 2019 | Rowan Evans | The last verses of Beccán | Guillemot Press | |||
| Seán Hewitt | Lantern | Offord Road Books | ||||
| Anita Pati | Dodo provocateur | The Rialto | ||||
| Declan Ryan | Fighters, losers | New Walk Editions | ||||
| Morgan Owen | moroedd/dŵr | Cyhoeddiadau'r Stamp | ||||
| 2020 | Paul Muldoon | Binge | The Lifeboat | [12] | ||
| Gail McConnell | Fothermather | Ink Sweat and Tears Press | ||||
| Jamie McKendrick | The years | Arc Publications | ||||
| Sarah Wimbush | Bloodlines | Seren | ||||
| Alycia Pirmohamed | Hinge | ignitionpress | ||||
| Rhys Iowerth | Carthen denau | Cyhoeddiadau'r Stamp | ||||
| 2021 | Gboyega Odubanjo | Aunty uncle poems | The Poetry Business | [13] |
| |
| Fiona Benson | Ariadne | Broken Sleep Books | ||||
| Holly Singlehurst | The sky turned thick as honey | The Rialto | ||||
| Matthew Hollis | Leaves | Hazel Press | ||||
| Selima Hill | Fridge | The Rialto | ||||
| Hugo Williams | Badlands | Mariscat Press | ||||
| Leontia Flynn | Nina Simone is singing | Mariscat Press | ||||
| 2022 | Shane McCrae | Hex and Other Poems | Bad Betty Press | [14] |
| |
| Naush Sabah | Litanies | Guillemot Press | ||||
| Maya C Popa | Dear Life | Smith/Doorstop | ||||
| Matthew Haigh | Vampires | Bad Betty Press | ||||
| Tomi Adegbayibi | Colours & Tea (Human) | Muscaliet Press | ||||
| John Burnside | Apostasy | Dare-Gale Press |
The Michael Marks Publishers' Award recognises an outstanding UK publisher of poetry in pamphlet form.
The following is a list of shortlisted publishers. Winners are listed in yellow, first in their year.
| Year | Publisher | Ref(s) | Judges | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | ||||
| HappenStance Press | ||||
| Tall Lighthouse | ||||
| Templar Poetry | ||||
| 2010 | ||||
| Oystercatcher Press | ||||
| Templar Poetry | ||||
| Veer Books | ||||
| 2011 |
| |||
| Kater Murr's Press | ||||
| The Knives, Forks and Spoons Press | ||||
| Mariscat Press | ||||
| Roncadora Press | ||||
| 2012 |
| |||
| Donut Press | ||||
| Pighog Press | ||||
| Rack Press | ||||
| 2013 |
| |||
| Mariscat Press | ||||
| Rack Press | ||||
| Pighog Press | ||||
| Shearsman Books | ||||
| 2014 | [19] |
| ||
| Emma Press | ||||
| flipped eye publishing | ||||
| Smith/Doorstop Press | ||||
| Shearsman Books | ||||
| 2015 |
| |||
| Eyewear Publishing | ||||
| Smith Doorstop | ||||
| The Emma Press | ||||
In 2019, the inaugural Michael Marks Award for Poetry in a Celtic Language was awarded to Morgan Owen for his pamphlet moroedd/dŵr, published by Cyhoeddiadau'r Stamp.[20]