Imogen Wade
{{Short description|English poet (born 1998)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Imogen Wade
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| pseudonym =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1998}}{{Cite web |last=Innes |first=Catriona |title=Why are more women suicidal than ever before? |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a37289355/women-suicide/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Cosmopolitan |date=2021-09-10 |language=en-GB}}
| birth_place =
| occupation = Poet
| language = English
| nationality = British
| citizenship =
| education =
| alma_mater = University of Exeter
University of Plymouth
| genre =
| notableworks = [https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-time-i-was-mugged-in-new-york-city/ 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City']
| awards = National Poetry Competition 2023
Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024
| signature =
| signature_alt =
| website = {{URL|https://imogenwadepoetry.co.uk/}}
| portaldisp =
}}
Imogen Wade (born 1998) is an English poet from Harlow.{{Cite web |title=Harlow woman wins National Poetry Competition |url=https://www.yourharlow.com/2024/04/03/harlow-women-wins-national-poetry-competition/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Your Harlow |date=2024-04-03 |language=en-GB}} She won the National Poetry Competition 2023 for her poem "The Time I Was Mugged in New York City",{{Cite web |last=Creamer |first=Ella |title=Poem inspired by New York mugging wins top prize in National Poetry Competition |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/25/poem-inspired-by-new-york-mugging-wins-top-prize-in-national-poetry-competition |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Guardian |date=2024-03-25 |language=en-GB}} and the Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024 for "Poem About Love".
Biography
Wade grew up in Harlow, Essex, and went on to study English Literature at the University of Exeter, with a year abroad at Vassar College, New York.{{Cite web |title=About Me |url=https://imogenwadepoetry.co.uk/about-me-2/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Imogen Wade Poetry |date=26 March 2024 |language=en-GB}}
Wade began publishing from an early age, winning a commendation for a poem at the Foyle Young Poets of Year Award in 2015, judged by Liz Berry.{{Cite web |title=2015 |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/foyle-young-poets-of-the-year-award/2015-2/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |language=en-GB}} Ever since, she has won several accolades, having been named a Runner-Up in The Poetry Business's 2023 New Poets Prize for her pamphlet manuscript Fire Safety, selected by the poet Kim Moore,{{Cite web |title=The 2023 New Poets Prize Runner Up |url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/2024/07/16/imogen-wade/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Business |date=2024-07-16 |language=en-GB}} and commended in the 2024 Moth Poetry Prize.{{Cite news |title=€6000 Moth Poetry Prize shortlist revealed |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/03/14/6000-moth-poetry-prize-shortlist-revealed/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=2024-03-14 |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |title=Shortlist for 2024 Moth Poetry Prize revealed |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/shortlist-for-2024-moth-poetry-prize-revealed |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Bookseller |date=2024-03-15 |language=en-GB}} In 2024, Wade was a finalist in the Montreal Prize for her poem "Argos".{{Cite web |title=Montreal Prize 2024: Competition Finalists |url=https://www.montrealpoetryprize.com/2024-competition |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Montreal International Poetry Prize |year=2024 |lang=en-GB}} She was also named first prize winner in the Ware Poets Open Competition 2023,{{Cite web |title='Lyricism of an abduction': Imogen Wade's 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City' wins National Poetry Competition |url=https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=134314 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Write Out Loud |date=2024-03-25 |language=en-GB}} and her poems have appeared in The Poetry Review, PN Review, The London Magazine, and elsewhere.{{Cite web |title=Imogen Wade |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/imogen-wade |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |language=en-GB}} Occasionally, Wade has also organised free writing workshops.{{Cite web |title=Local poet runs free poetry workshops in Harlow |url=https://www.yourharlow.com/2025/02/12/local-poet-runs-free-poetry-workshops-in-harlow/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Your Harlow |date=2025-02-12 |language=en-GB}}
In 2024, Wade was named the winner of National Poetry Competition 2023 for her poem "The Time I Was Mugged in New York City", selected by the poets Jane Draycott, Will Harris and Clare Pollard.{{Cite web |title=National Poetry Competition |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/national-poetry-competition/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |language=en-GB}} This win got her considerable attention, with The Spectator blaming the organisation behind the competition, The Poetry Society, for having "betrayed poetry".{{Cite web |last=Patmore |first=Angela |title=The Poetry Society has betrayed poetry |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-poetry-society-has-betrayed-poetry/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Spectator |date=2024-04-03 |language=en-GB}} In a blog post, poet Courtenay Schembri Gray found the poem "woefully unambitious".{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Courtenay (Schembri) |title=Between Fire and Ice: Imogen Wade, The Spectator, and what traditional poetry looks like today |url=https://courtenayscorner.com/2025/02/07/between-fire-and-ice-imogen-wade-the-spectator-and-what-traditional-poetry-looks-like-today/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Courtenay's Corner |date=2025-02-07 |language=en-GB}} While The Spectator refuted the idea of Wade's poem being a poem at all, calling it "prose, printed in [a] central [block] on the page," the judges praised the "paradoxical lyricism" of the poem, noting its strength in "skilfully and subtly open[ing] up the psychological complexity of [an] assault".{{Cite web |title=Imogen Wade Wins the National Poetry Competition |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/imogen-wade-wins-the-national-poetry-competition/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |date=2024-03-25 |language=en-GB}} Written in response to "a real life experience", "The Time I Was Mugged in New York City" was one of 19 thousand poems submitted to the competition in 2023. In an interview with the BBC, Wade noted that she was "very surpris[ed]" on receiving the news of the win, pointing out that she might now "by a domino effect" have profited "from the mugging".
In 2024, Wade was also named the winner of the Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024, selected by poets Jane Yeh and Glyn Maxwell, for her poem titled "Poem About Love". Yeh praised the work for its "sophisticated voice and compelling lines", and Maxwell called it "a heartfelt revelation of a poem".{{Cite web |title=Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024 |url=https://www.coffeehousepoetry.org/poems/troubadour-international-poetry-prize-2024 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Coffe-House Poetry |language=en-GB}}
In October 2024, she was awarded a DYCP Grant from Arts Council England for A Poet's First Novel,{{Cite web |title=Developing your Creative Practice - Round 21 funded applicants |url=https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/22980/download?attachment |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Arts Council England |language=en-GB}} and was later longlisted in the National Poetry Competition 2024.
Books
Awards
- 2015: Commended, Foyle Young Poets of Year
- 2023: First Prize, Ware Poets Open Competition 2023
- 2023: Runner Up, The Poetry Business New Poets Prize, for Fire Safety{{Cite web |title=The Winners of the 2023 New Poets Prize |url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/2023/07/20/the-winners-of-the-2023-new-poets-prize/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Business |date=2023-07-20 |language=en-GB}}
- 2023: Shortlisted, Plough Poetry Prize, for 'Tennis Lesson'{{Cite web |title=2023 Short List |url=https://www.theploughartscentre.org.uk/poetry-prize/2023-short-list |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Plough Arts Centre |date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}}
- 2024: Commended, Moth Poetry Prize
- 2024: National Poetry Competition 2023{{Cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |last2=Jelly |first2=Rob |title=Woman who won National Poetry Competition recalls 'blanking out' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-68798199 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=BBC |date=2024-04-13 |language=en-GB}}
- 2024: Finalist, Montreal International Poetry Prize, for "Argos"
- 2024: Troubadour International Poetry Prize
- 2025: Longlisted, National Poetry Competition 2024
References
{{reflist}}
{{Authority control (arts)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Imogen}}
Category:21st-century English poets
Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter