Warm congratulations from Magma to Carol Ann Duffy on her appointment as the UK’s new Poet Laureate, announced today.
In a refreshing break from tradition, it won’t have escaped anyone’s notice that Duffy is the first female Poet Laureate since the post was first awarded over 300 years ago. On BBC Radio 4 this morning, she cited this as a reason for accepting the office:
I look on it as a recognition of the great woman poets we have writing now. I’ve decided to accept it for that reason.
Poetry is all around us, all of the time, whether in song or in speech or on the page, and we turn to it when events, personal or public, matter most.
In accepting this Laureateship, I hope to contribute to people’s understanding of what poetry can do and where it can be found.
We wish her every success in doing so.
Good to see a genuine congratulations instead of the usual “Ain’t everyfink just a larf, mate? She’s a lezzie int she? Funny lot, poets. Steer clear if U axe me.” Even Newsnight has caught the Pig-Ignorant Flu virus, I see.
I’m very hopeful that Carol Ann will fulfil her ambition “to contribute to people’s understanding of what poetry can do AND WHERE IT CAN BE FOUND” which, to me is the most daring part of her “manifesto” if her gestating thoughts and emotions can be so-called.