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Holly Hopkins

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Holly Hopkins
BornBerkshire, England
OccupationPoet, editor
LanguageEnglish
NationalityBritish
EducationMA Creative Writing, 2013
Alma materRoyal Holloway, London
GenrePoetry
Notable worksThe English Summer
Notable awardsEric Gregory Award 2011
The Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition 2013/14
Website
hollyhopkins.co.uk

Holly Hopkins is a Manchester-based poet and editor. She has published a poetry pamphlet, Soon Every House Will Have One (Smith/Doorstop, 2014), and a poetry collection, The English Summer (Penned in the Margins, 2022). The former was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice, and the latter won a Poetry Book Society Special Commendation.

Early life

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Hopkins grew up in Berkshire and London, and later moved to Manchester.[1] She has a bachelor's degree from the University of Warwick, and in 2013, was awarded an MA in Creative Writing from the Royal Holloway, University of London.[2]

Work

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Hopkins's verse was noticed at the turn of the century, and she was selected as a Poetry Society Young Poet of the Year in 1999 & 2000. She later won the Eric Gregory Award in 2011, and went on to have her work included in Sidekick Press, Seren Books and Bloodaxe Books anthologies,[3] and published in The Guardian,[4] The Telegraph and The TLS.[1] She has performed her work at a number of festivals, including the Ledbury and the Aldeburgh poetry festivals, and at the Royal Festival Hall.[3]

Hopkins won the 2013/14 Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition, judged by Carol Ann Duffy. Her pamphlet, titled Soon Every House Will Have One, which was published in 2014, was praised in Poetry London for a voice "so fresh it virtually sizzles". In the review, the poet Clare Pollard also noted that Hopkins's was "an almost flawless pamphlet performance", calling it "a ferociously impressive debut."[5] The Poetry Book Society also declared it as a PBS Pamphlet Choice in 2014.[6]

In 2015, she was an assistant editor of The Rialto, a position she now holds at The Poetry Business, and also managed the Forward Prizes for Poetry.[6][7] In 2016, she went on to win a Hawthornden Fellowship,[8] and was shortlisted for the inaugural Women Poets' Prize, judged by Sarah Howe, Moniza Alvi, and Fiona Sampson, and organised by the Rebecca Swift Foundation, in 2018.[9][10]

Published in 2022, her debut collection The English Summer was shortlisted for the Forward[11] and the Seamus Heaney[12] first collection prizes in 2022 and 2023, respectively. Writing for the Dundee Review of the Arts, Orla Davey noted that Hopkins's manner of writing allows "a straightforward matter-of-factness to burn through her narrative".[13] Similar to her pamphlet, The English Summer was the PBS Special Commendation for Summer 2022,[14] and was named one of the best poetry books of 2022 in The Guardian.[15] In 2023, Hopkins won the Third Prize at the Laurel Prize ceremony for the collection. The prize was judged by the poets Pascale Petit and Nick Laird, and the Journalist & Presenter Reeta Chakrabarti.[16]

Hopkins won a Northern Writers' Award in 2023 for a work-in-progress, which will form her second collection.[17]

Awards and honors

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In 2016, Hopkins received a Hawthornden Fellowship.[8]

Awards for Hopkins's writing
Year Work Award Result Ref.
2011 Eric Gregory Award Winner [18]
2013/14 Soon Every House Will Have One The Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition Winner [9][19]
2018 Women Poets' Prize Shortlist [9]
2022 The English Summer Forward Prize for Best First Collection Shortlist [11][20]
2023 Seamus Heaney Poetry Prize for a First Collection Shortlist [21]
2023 Laurel Prize Third [16]
2023 Northern Writers' Award [17]

Books

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  • Soon Every House Will Have One (Smith/Doorstop, 2014) ISBN 9781902382098
  • The English Summer (Penned in the Margins, 2022) ISBN 9781908058942

References

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  1. ^ a b Rogerson, Janet (14 September 2022). "Clare Shaw, Kit Fan, Holly Hopkins & the Hyphenation Duo: 22 October 2022". Poets & Players. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  2. ^ "Soon Every House Will Have One". The Poetry Business. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Holly Hopkins". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  4. ^ Hopkins, Holly (11 January 2021). "Poem of the month: How to balance law books on your head by Holly Hopkins". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  5. ^ "Realities and Dreams". Poetry London. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b "How to edit a poem with Holly Hopkins". Young Poets Network. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  7. ^ "Early Winter". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Bios". Hawthornden Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  9. ^ a b c Anderson, Porter (23 October 2018). "The UK's Inaugural Women Poets' Prize Shortlists Nine Writers". Publishing Perspectives. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Women Poets' Prize 2018 Shortlist". Rebecca Swift Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  11. ^ a b Shaffi, Sarah (28 November 2022). "Kim Moore wins Forward poetry prize for 'phenomenal' poems about everyday sexism". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  12. ^ Savage, Joanne (28 June 2023). "Queen's University announce Mark Pajak as winner of Seamus Heaney First Collection Poetry Prize 2023". News Letter. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  13. ^ Davey, Orla (2 September 2022). "The English Summer (Shortlisted, 2022 Forward Poetry Prizes for Best First Collection)". Dundee Review of the Arts (DURA). Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  14. ^ "PBS Summer 2022". Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  15. ^ Dastidar, Rishi (3 December 2022). "The best poetry books of 2022". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  16. ^ a b "2023 Winners". :Laurel Prize. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  17. ^ a b Brown, Lauren (22 June 2023). "Winners of the Northern Writers' Awards 2023 unveiled". The Bookseller. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  18. ^ "Eric Gregory Awards: Past winners". The Society of Authors. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Winners of The International Book & Pamphlet Competition" (PDF). The Poetry Business. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  20. ^ "Telephone Girls by Holly Hopkins". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  21. ^ "2023 Shortlist". Queen's University Belfast. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
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