[新鮮書市]卡羅爾安特達菲頒發特德休斯獎

卡羅爾安特達菲頒發特德休斯獎

來源：Guardian(衛報) 編輯：Vicki

今日，桂冠詩人卡羅爾安特達菲與女王一起爲特德休斯獎得獎者頒獎。特德休斯獎由達菲創辦，達菲每年出資5750英鎊，獎勵那些在詩歌領域中有傑出貢獻的人，達菲稱“這對其他的詩人來說是一個榮譽，不希望把這個與金錢混在一起，最好能把它迴歸到詩歌上去。”

Carol Ann Duffy launches Ted Hughes award

Poet laureate （桂冠詩人）Carol Ann Duffy has announced a new prize celebrating poetry in all its forms, following her first audience with the Queen today.

Funded by Duffy's donation of her yearly £5,750 stipend （薪俸）as laureate （獲得者）to the Poetry Society, the prize, known as the Ted Hughes award （特德休斯獎）for new work in poetry, will be awarded annually throughout Duffy's 10-year term as laureate. Duffy had already made clear that she "didn't want to take on what basically is an honour on behalf of other poets and complicate it with money". "I thought it was better to give it back to poetry," she said in May, when she was chosen as laureate.

The prize, worth £5,000, will go to a UK poet working in any form – including poetry collections for adults and children, individual poems, radio poems, translations and verse（詩，韻文） dramas – who has made the "most exciting contribution" to poetry that year. "I'm delighted, with the assistance of Buckingham Palace and the Poetry Society, to be founding this new award for poetry. With the permission of Carol Hughes, the award is named in honour of Ted Hughes, poet laureate, and one of the greatest 20th-century poets for both children and adults," said Duffy in a statement announcing the new prize.

Other poets welcomed news of the award, with Sean O'Brien saying it would "take account of the scope of poetry in its many manifestations, in book form and beyond". Don Paterson called it "generous and innovative", and a prize that "acknowledges all the ways we can carry the poem into the mind of the reader … This is typical of Carol Ann's imaginative approach to developing the art, and builds on her predecessor's democratic commitment to taking the best poetry wherever it can go," he said.

"Surely this is the prize many have been waiting for," agreed Moniza Alvi. "Its width is wonderful: it sheds light on areas of poetry which are so deserving of general recognition, for example, poetry books published for children and works in translation."

The first winner will be announced in March 2010, with nominations to be made by the Poetry Society, and the winner will be decided by three judges, appointed by Duffy. Poetry Society director Judith Palmer said it was an honour to launch an award linking the names of two such inspirational poets. "It's been great fun devising this exciting new initiative with her, which we believe will make a significant impact in raising awareness of the range and vitality of contemporary poetry," she added.

Keke View：英國女詩人達菲（Carol Ann Duffy）爲英國桂冠詩人，是三四一年以來英國首位女性的桂冠詩人。現年五十三歲的達菲，同時也是英國曆史上，第一位被指派爲桂冠詩人的蘇格蘭人。 現代的桂冠詩人雖不像傳統必須伺候皇上，但在皇室重要慶典上，吟詩作詞仍是無可推卸的責任。 以莫遜擔任桂冠詩人的十年爲例，他曾爲伊莉莎白二世女王結婚紀念日，查理王儲和卡蜜拉婚禮及威廉王子廿歲生日等慶典撰寫詩詞。