Will Harris (born 1989) is a London-based poet of Chinese Indonesian and British heritage. His debut poetry book RENDANG won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection 2020,[1] and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2021.[2] His poem SAY was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in 2018.[1] In 2019, Harris received a Poetry Fellowship from the Arts Foundation.[1]
Will Harris | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1989 (age 34–35) |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Notable works | RENDANG (2020) |
| Notable awards | Forward Prizes for Poetry |
RENDANG was described by the London Review of Books as "one of the most hotly-anticipated debut poetry collections of 2020",[3] by The Guardian as "a sharp and assured debut collection that meditates on the multiplicity of identity",[4] and by the Financial Times as "poems that brim with soul and playfulness."[5] RENDANG was longlisted for the 2021 Dylan Thomas Prize and shortlisted for the John Pollard Foundation International Poetry Prize, 2021.[6][7]
Harris's essay Mixed-Race Superman was published in the UK by Peninsula Press and by Melville House in the US. It was described by The New York Times as "a zany, exuberant and highly original meditation on what it means to come of age as a mixed-race person in a predominantly white world"[8] and by The Times Literary Supplement as "meditat[ing] wisely on this potentially awkward yet not exactly uncommon state of in-betweenness".[9]
Harris was mentored on The Complete Works poets of colour mentoring scheme initiated by Bernardine Evaristo to redress representational invisibility.[10]
Work
edit- 2018: Mixed-Race Superman (Peninsula Press) ISBN 9781612197906
- 2020: RENDANG (Granta Books), ISBN 9781783785599
- 2023: Brother Poem (Granta Books), ISBN 9781915051042
Awards
edit- 2017: London Review Bookshop Pamphlet of the Year, All this is implied
- 2020: Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection, RENDANG
References
edit- ^ a b c "Will Harris". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ Flood, Alison (15 October 2020). "TS Eliot prize unveils 'unsettling, captivating' shortlist". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ "Will Harris and Rachael Allen: RENDANG". LRB. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ Lee, Joanna (1 February 2020). "The best recent poetry collections". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ Crawford, Maria (6 March 2020). "Rendang by Will Harris — poems that brim with soul and playfulness". Financial Times. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "Dylan Thomas Prize 2021: Longlist Announced". Wales Arts Review. 21 January 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
- ^ Doyle, Martin (15 April 2021). "Irish writers longlisted for Desmond Elliott Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize". The Irish Times. Retrieved 20 April 2021.
- ^ "Congratulations, Meghan and Harry! (Now Here's What to Read)". The New York Times. 7 May 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ Caines, Michael (17 August 2018). "Inbetweeners: Stories of being neither one race nor another". TLS. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "TCW 1". 28 August 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2021.