SEAMUS HEANEY CONFIRMED FOR STELLAR POETRY EVENT IN THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL

SEAMUS HEANEY CONFIRMED FOR STELLAR POETRY EVENT IN THE
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL
Seamus Heaney will read from his critically acclaimed collection Human Chain at the Booker of the
poetry world, the TS Eliot Prize readings, on 23 January. This year the readings move to the bigger
venue of the Royal Festival Hall for the first time, in response to the growing appetite for live literature
events.
The TS Eliot Prize Readings showcase the best poetry of the year, where legendary names and rising
stars rub shoulders and vie for this year’s prestigious prize for the best poetry collection of 2010. Simon
Armitage, Annie Freud, John Haynes, Seamus Heaney, Pascale Petit, Robin Robertson, Fiona
Sampson, Brian Turner and Sam Willetts will read from their work at an event hosted by Ian
McMillan, poet and presenter of Radio 3’s The Verb. Daljit Nagra will read for Derek Walcott. The
event is presented in association with the Poetry Book Society.
http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/literature-spoken-word/tickets/ts-eliot-prize-readings-55582
For further press information, contact Katie Toms on 0207 921 0926 or
katie.toms@southbankcentre.co.uk
Southbank Centre Ticket Office:
0844 847 9910 / Book online www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Notes to Editors
The TS Eliot Prize was inaugurated in 1993 in celebration of the Poetry Book Society's 40th birthday
and in honour of its founding poet, TS Eliot. The £15,000 prize money is donated and presented by
Eliot's widow, Mrs Valerie Eliot. The judges panel is this year chaired by Anne Stevenson and also
includes Michael Symmons Roberts and Bernardine Evaristo. The winner will be announced at an
invite-only ceremony at the Wallace Collection on Monday 24 th January.
List of previous winners:
2009 - Philip Gross, The Water Table
2008 - Jen Hadfield, Nigh-No-Place
2007 - Sean O'Brien, The Drowned Book
2006 - Seamus Heaney, District and Circle
2005 - Carol Ann Duffy, Rapture
2004 - George Szirtes, Reel
Patron: Her Majesty The Queen. Chairman: Rick Haythornthwaite.
Chief Executive: Alan Bishop. Artistic Director: Jude Kelly OBE
Southbank Centre i s a Registered Charity No. 298909
Trustee: Southbank Centre Li mited, Registered in Engl and No. 2238415

2003 - Don Paterson, Landing Light
2002 - Alice Oswald, Dart
2001 - Anne Carson, The Beauty of the Husband
2000 - Michael Longley, The Weather in Japan
1999 - Hugo Williams, Billy's Rain
1998 - Ted Hughes, Birthday Letters
1997 - Don Paterson, God's Gift to Women
1996 - Les Murray, Subhuman Redneck Poems
1995 - Mark Doty, My Alexandria
1994 - Paul Muldoon, The Annals of Chile
1993 - Ciarán Carson, First Language: Poems
Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of
London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary
creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is
home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery as well
as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The Royal Festival Hall reopened in June
2007 following the major refurbishment of the Hall and redevelopment of the surrounding area and
facilities.