Liz Berry
{{short description|British poet|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{for|the Washington politician|Liz Berry (politician)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Liz Berry
| image =
| image_size =
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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1980}}
| birth_place = West Midlands, England
| occupation = Poet
| language = English
| education =
| alma_mater = Royal Holloway, University of London
| period =
| genre = Poetry
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = Black Country (2014)
The Republic of Motherhood (2018)
| spouse =
| partner =
| awards = Eric Gregory Award (2009)
Forward Prize (2014)
Somerset Maugham Award (2015)
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| portaldisp =
}}
Liz Berry (born 1980) is a British poet. She has published three pamphlets and two full-length poetry collections. Her debut collection, Black Country (2014), was named poetry book of the year by several publications, including The Guardian.
Early life and education
Born in 1980, Berry was raised in the Black Country of England. She trained as a school teacher and initially taught in a primary school. She became interested in poetry after taking a beginners' poetry class at a local college. She later attended the Royal Holloway, University of London, where she earned an MA in Creative Writing.{{cite web| last1=Anderson |first1=Natalya|title=The Poetry Extension's Poet of the Month |url=https://www.thepoetryextension.com/lizberry |website=Poetry Extension |accessdate=8 September 2018}}
Poetry career
Berry was a recipient of the Eric Gregory Award in 2009. The award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under the age of 30.{{cite web |title=Liz Berry b. 1980 |url=https://www.poetryarchive.org/poet/liz-berry |website=Poetry Archive |accessdate=8 September 2018}}. Berry's first pamphlet, The Patron Saint of School Girls, was published by tall-lighthouse in 2010. She won the Poetry London competition in 2012 for the poem Bird.{{cite web |title=Autumn 2012: Issue 73 |url=http://poetrylondon.co.uk/product/autumn-2012-issue-73/ |accessdate=8 September 2018 |website=Poetry London}}
In 2014, Chatto and Windus published Black Country, Berry's first poetry collection. Black Country won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and the Somerset Maugham Award.{{cite web |title=Liz Berry |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/liz-berry |website=Poetry Foundation |accessdate=8 September 2018}} Black Country was selected as poetry book of the year by several publications, including The Guardian.{{cite web |title=Liz Berry |url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/liz-berry |website=British Council |accessdate=8 September 2018}}{{cite web |title=The Republic of Motherhood |url=http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/poetry/the-republic-of-motherhood/ |website=Forward Arts Foundation |accessdate=9 September 2018}}
The Republic of Motherhood, Berry's second pamphlet, was published by Chatto and Windus in 2018. The title poem won the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem.{{cite web|url=http://www.forwardartsfoundation.org/poetry/the-republic-of-motherhood/|title=Republic of Motherhood|website=Forward Arts Foundation|accessdate=9 September 2018}}
Following, The Republic of Motherhood, Berry collaborated with Black Country artist Tom Hicks on The Dereliction (Hercules Editions, 2021), a pamphlet of poems and photographs exploring their home region.
In 2023, Chatto and Windus published The Home Child, a novel in verse, which reimagines the story of Berry's great aunt, Eliza Showell, one of the many children forcibly migrated to Canada as part of the British Child Migrant Schemes. The Home Child was adapted for BBC Radio 4 as "The Ballad of Eliza Showell" and was a Radio Pick of The Week for The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph, and Radio Times. The Home Child was awarded The Writers' Prize for Book of the Year.
Berry's writing is rooted in the landscape and dialect of the West Midlands. In 2014, Ben Wilkinson in The Guardian summarized Black Country: "It digs deep into the poet’s West Midlands roots, enlivening and reimagining the heritage of that eponymous heartland of iron foundries, coal mines and steel mills, on both personal and public footings".{{cite web |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Ben |title=Black Country by Liz Berry poetry review – 'love flowed out of me like honey' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/nov/21/black-country-liz-berry-review-poetry-collection |website=The Guardian |date=21 November 2014|accessdate=9 September 2018}} Her poem 'Homing', a love poem to the language of the Black Country, became part of the AQA GCSE syllabus in 2023.
Berry lives in Birmingham with her family. She is a patron of Writing West Midlands and in 2023 she was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by The University of Wolverhampton.
Awards
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Awards and Nominations !Year !Title !Award !Category !Result !Ref | |
| rowspan="1" |2009
|— |—|| {{win}} | |
|---|---|
| rowspan="1" |2012
|— |Poetry London competition |—|| {{win}} | |
| rowspan="2" |2014
| rowspan="3" |Black Country |First Collection|| {{win}} | |
| Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize
|— | {{win}} |
| rowspan="1" |2015
|—|| {{win}} | |
| rowspan="1" |2018
|Republic of Motherhood |Single Poem|| {{win}} | |
| rowspan="2" |2024
| rowspan="2" |The Home Child | rowspan="2" |The Writers' Prize |Poetry |{{Won}} | | |
| Overall
|{{Won}} | |
Works
- {{cite book |first=Liz |last=Berry |title=The Patron Saint of Girls |publisher=tall-lighthouse |year=2010 |isbn=9781904551829 |author-mask=2}}
- {{cite book |first=Liz |last=Berry |title=Black Country |publisher=Chatto and Windus |year=2014 |isbn=9780701188573 |author-mask=2}}
- {{cite book |first=Liz |last=Berry |title=The Republic of Motherhood |publisher=Vintage Digital |year=2018 |asin=B07CN8RDS1 |author-mask=2}}
- {{cite book |first=Liz |last=Berry |title=The Dereliction |publisher=Hercules Editions |year=2021 |author-mask=2 |first2=Tom |last2=Hicks}}
- {{cite book |first=Liz |last=Berry |title=The Home Child |publisher=Chatto & Windus |year=2023 |isbn=9781784742683 |author-mask=2}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website|https://www.lizberrypoetry.co.uk/}}
- {{LibraryThing author|id=berryliz-2}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Liz}}
Category:21st-century British writers
Category:Alumni of Royal Holloway, University of London