First female Poet Laureate named
Duffy’s work is taught in schools for GCSE and AS level
Carol Ann Duffy is to be named as the new Poet Laureate, the first woman to be appointed in the 341-year history of the post.
Duffy, 53, who takes over immediately from Andrew Motion and will serve 10 years in the position, says she will give the £5,750 annual payment away.
The author, who is best known for her collection The World’s Wife, is also the first Scot to be named Laureate.
The appointment will be formally announced by the culture secretary.
Andy Burnham will hold a news conference alongside the poet at 1200 BST in Manchester, where Duffy lives and works.
Duffy’s works are both accessible and critically acclaimed.
She was such a strong favourite to take up the position that bookmakers stopped taking bets on her appointment earlier in the week.
She has decided to donate her yearly honorarium for the new post to the Poetry Society to fund a prize for poets.
‘Difficult poems’
The reigning monarch chooses the Laureate on the advice of the government.
Part of Duffy’s role over the next 10 years will be to write works commemorating royal events.
Her predecessor, Motion, told the BBC he had found these “very difficult poems to write” and there are signs Duffy may also struggle with this side of the job.
After being passed over for the Laureate job in 1999, she commented: “I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie. No self-respecting poet should have to.”
However, she has voiced her enthusiasm for the opportunities the role brings to raise the profile of poetry saying “it’s good to have someone who’s prepared to say poetry is part of our national life”.
Critically acclaimed
Her willingness to take on personal topics and her use of humour make her a popular poet. Her last collection, 2005’s Rapture, followed the course of a love affair.
Her first themed collection, The World’s Wife, spoke of great men, myths and moments in history through the women in the background. It included poems called Mrs Midas and Queen Kong.
In 2002 she was made a CBE. The poet’s work is taught in schools at GCSE and AS level. She is critically acclaimed, winning multiple prizes, including the TS Eliot prize for Rapture.
Duffy was born in the Gorbals area of Glasgow but now lives in Manchester.
She still works as the Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, but her job there may have to be scaled back in light of her new commitments.
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