Julia Copus
{{Short description|British poet, biographer and children's writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Julia Celina Copus
| image = Julia Copus.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Copus in 2007
| alt = Black and white head and shoulders close up of a female smiling and looking to her left
| birth_place = London Borough of Lambeth, England
| death_date =
| death_place =
| resting_place =
| occupation = Poet
| language =
| nationality = British
| residence =
| citizenship =
| education = Durham University
| alma_mater =
| period =
| genre =
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| notableworks =
| spouse = Andrew Stevenson (m. 2012)
Charles Barrow (m. 2000; div. 2005)
| awards = Forward Prize for Best Single Poem; Eric Gregory Award
| website = [https://www.juliacopus.com/ Official website]
}}
Julia Copus FRSL (born 1969) is a British poet, biographer and children's writer.
Copus was born in London and grew up with three brothers, two of whom went on to become musicians.{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/julia-copus|title=Julia Copus {{!}} poetryarchive.org|website=www.poetryarchive.org|access-date=2019-08-30}} She attended The Mountbatten School, a comprehensive in Romsey, and Peter Symonds Sixth Form College in Winchester.{{Cite web|url=https://www.juliacopus.com/writer-biography/becoming-writer/|title=Julia Copus || Poet * Children's Writer * Biographer}} She went on to study Latin at St Mary's College, Durham.{{cite web |title=Julia Copus b 1969 |url=https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/julia-copus |website=Poetry Archive |access-date=11 September 2018}}
Copus' books of poetry include The Shuttered Eye (Bloodaxe, 1995), which won her an Eric Gregory Award and was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the pamphlet Walking in the Shadows (1994), which won the Poetry Business competition,{{Cite web|url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/julia-copus|title=Julia Copus - Literature|website=literature.britishcouncil.org|access-date=2019-08-30}} In Defence of Adultery (Bloodaxe, 2003), The World's Two Smallest Humans (Faber, 2012), shortlisted for both the Costa Book Award for Poetry and the T. S. Eliot Prize, and Girlhood (Faber 2019), winner of the inaugural [https://www.arrowsmithpress.com/walcott Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry]. [https://www.derekwalcott.com/post/julia-copus-wins-the-inaugural-derek-walcott-prize Julia Copus wins the inaugural Derek Walcott Prize]. derekwalcott.com Retrieved 12 September 2021 She is known for establishing a new form in English poetry, which she has called the specular form,[https://web.archive.org/web/20180911225218/http://bensonofjohn.co.uk/poetry/formssearch.php?searchbox=Specular Poetry Forms], Archived from [http://bensonofjohn.co.uk/poetry/formssearch.php?searchbox=Specular the original] on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 12 September 2021 in which the second half of the poem mirrors the first, using the same lines but in reverse order and differently punctuated.[http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/archives/places/apnaghar/ The Poetry Society (Julia Copus, Apna Ghar Age Concern)]
Eenie Meenie Macka Racka (an original 45-minute play for radio) was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September, 2003, having been commissioned after Copus won the BBC's Alfred Bradley Bursary Award for Best New Radio Playwright in 2002. In the same year, she won First Prize in the National Poetry Competition with Breaking the Rule.[http://more.poetrysociety.org.uk/npcvote/poem.php?pid=6 Breaking the Rule'] The Poetry Society Retrieved 12 September 2021{{cite web |title=Julia Copus |url=https://www.poemhunter.com/julia-copus/biography/ |website=Poem Hunter |access-date=11 September 2018}}
Copus was a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at the University of Exeter in 2005, 2006 and 2007, and the following year was made an RLF Advisory Fellow and awarded an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Exeter. In 2010, she won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem for An Easy Passage,[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/07/forward-prize-single-poem-julia-copus 'An Easy Passage'] The Guardian, 7 October, 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2021 and in 2020 her collection Girlhood was awarded the inaugural [https://www.arrowsmithpress.com/walcott Derek Walcott Prize] for best collection by a non-US citizen. She has served on the judging panel for a number of literary prizes, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Ted Hughes Award, the Costa Book Award, the UK's National Poetry Competition, the Encore Award for best second novel, the Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets, the T. S. Eliot Prize for poetry and the [https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/towerpoetry Tower Poetry Competition] for 16-18 year olds, run by Christ Church, Oxford.
Copus has also written four picture books: Hog in the Fog,[https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Lil-Julia-Copus/dp/0571307213 Hog in the Fog] (Faber 2014). Retrieved 12 September 2021 The Hog, The Shrew and the Hullabaloo (Faber 2015), The Shrew that Flew (Faber 2016) and My Bed is an Air Balloon (Faber 2018).
Personal life
She lives in Blackheath, London, with her husband, Andrew Stevenson.
Publications
= Poetry collections =
- The Shuttered Eye, Bloodaxe Books 1995. {{ISBN|9781852243388}}
- In Defence of Adultery, Bloodaxe Books 2003. {{ISBN|9781852246075}}
- The World's Two Smallest Humans, Faber 2012. {{ISBN|9780571284580}}
- Girlhood, Faber 2019. {{ISBN|9780571351060}}
= For children =
- [http://www.outoftheark.co.uk/the-landlord-s-cat.html The Landlord's Cat, Out of the Ark Music 2010] (with Antony Copus)
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Harry-Lil-Julia-Copus/dp/0571307213 A Harry & Lil story: Hog in the Fog, Faber 2014]
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hog-Shrew-Hullabaloo-Harry-Story/dp/0571316972 A Harry & Lil story: The Hog, the Shrew and the Hullabaloo, Faber 2015]
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shrew-that-Flew-Harry-Lil/dp/0571325300 A Harry & Lil story: The Shrew that Flew, Faber 2016]
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bed-Air-Balloon-Julia-Copus/dp/0571347711/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1547330154&sr=8-4&keywords=Julia+Copus My Bed is an Air Balloon, Faber 2018]
= As editor =
- [https://headofzeus.com/books/9781788542821 Life Support: 100 Poems to Reach for on Dark Nights] (Head of Zeus 2019)
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Selected-Poetry-Prose-Faber/dp/0571316182 Charlotte Mew: Selected Poems and Prose] (Faber 2019)
= Non-fiction =
- [https://www.amazon.co.uk/Charlotte-Faber-Poetry-Julia-Copus/dp/0571313531/ref=sr_1_1?crid=ASO9LU3JMWIR&dchild=1&keywords=this+rare+spirit+julia+copus&qid=1621960986&sprefix=this+rare+spirit%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-1 This Rare Spirit: A Life of Charlotte Mew], Faber 2021
- [http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=311844 Brilliant Writing Tips for Students, Palgrave Macmillan 2009]
= For radio =
- Eenie Meenie Macka Racka, afternoon play, BBC Radio 4, September 2003
- The Enormous Radio (based on the short story by John Cheever), afternoon play, BBC Radio 4, July 2008
- Ghost Lines, a sequence of poems for radio, BBC Radio 3, December 2011
- [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bdm2#:~:text=But%20to%20those%20who%20knew,silence%2C%20between%20life%20and%20death. The Heart of Hidden Things], on the life and work of Charlotte Mew, BBC Radio 4, November 2019
= Audio =
- [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=13136 Julia Copus Reading from Her Poems, (CD) The Poetry Archive 2010]
Awards and Fellowships
- 1994 [http://www.societyofauthors.org/eric-gregory Eric Gregory Award] (Society of Authors)
- 1997 The Shuttered Eye shortlisted for Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection
- 2002 National Poetry Competition, First Prize - [http://more.poetrysociety.org.uk/npcvote/poem.php?pid=6 'Breaking the Rule']
- 2002 BBC Alfred Bradley Award for Best New Radio Playwright, Eenie Meenie Macka Racka
- 2005 Arts Council Writers' Award
- 2005–2007 Royal Literary Fund Fellow, University of Exeter
- 2008 Honorary Fellowship, University of Exeter
- 2010 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem), [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/07/forward-prize-single-poem-julia-copus 'An Easy Passage']
- 2011 Ghost Lines shortlisted for [https://web.archive.org/web/20110426195827/http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/competitions/tedhughes/ Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry]
- 2012 [https://web.archive.org/web/20121202030918/http://www.costabookawards.com/media/6956/shortlistrelease-forthewebsite.pdf Costa Book Awards] (poetry category), shortlist, The World's Two Smallest Humans
- 2012 T. S. Eliot Prize, shortlist, The World's Two Smallest Humans{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/23/ts-eliot-prize-poetry-shortlist |title=TS Eliot prize for poetry announces 'fresh, bold' shortlist |work=The Guardian |author=Alison Flood |date=23 October 2012 |access-date=23 October 2012}}
- 2014 [http://www.societyofauthors.org/grants-works-progress Authors' Foundation Grant] (Society of Authors)
- 2018 Inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature{{Cite web |last=Callaghan |first=Morgan |date=2018-06-05 |title=RSL elects 31 new Fellows - Royal Society of Literature |url=https://rsliterature.org/rsl-elects-31-new-fellows/,%20https://rsliterature.org/rsl-elects-31-new-fellows/ |access-date=2024-07-04 |language=en-GB}}
- 2020 [https://www.derekwalcott.com/post/prize-for-poetry Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry], for Girlhood
- 2023–2024 Royal Literary Fund Fellow, V&A Museum and Science Museum Group
- 2024 Cholmondeley Award{{Cite web |date=2024-06-20 |title='Spanning genres, showing outstanding depths' – celebrating the 2024 Society of Authors Awards' winners - The Society of Authors |url=https://www2.societyofauthors.org/2024/06/20/spanning-genres-showing-outstanding-depths-celebrating-the-2024-society-of-authors-awards-winners/ |access-date=2024-07-04 |language=en-GB}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.faber.co.uk/author/julia-copus/ Julia Copus author page on the Faber & Faber website]
- [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=13136 Julia Copus reading her poems on The Poetry Archive]
- [http://www.rlf.org.uk/fellowships/julia-copus/ Julia Copus biography page on the Royal Literary Fund website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Copus, Julia}}
Category:21st-century British poets
Category:21st-century English poets
Category:21st-century English writers
Category:21st-century English women writers
Category:Alumni of St Mary's College, Durham
Category:English women dramatists and playwrights
Category:People educated at Peter Symonds College