Alison Brackenbury

Alison Brackenbury
Born	1953 (age 71–72) Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England, UK
Nationality	British
Awards	Eric Gregory Award, Cholmondeley Award

Alison Brackenbury (born 1953 ^[1] ) is a British poet. She has published ten full-length collections of poetry and two selected volumes, as well as reviews, articles, and radio broadcasts. She has won the Eric Gregory Award and the Cholmondeley Award.

Life

Brackenbury was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire and attended the local village school and then Brigg High School. ^[2] She studied English at St Hugh's College, Oxford. ^[1] Since leaving Oxford, she has lived in Gloucestershire. ^{[3] [4]}

In the late 1970s and the 1980s, Brackenbury worked as a librarian in a technical college and as a clerical assistant. From 1990 to 2012, when she retired, she was a director, bookkeeper, and manual worker in her family's metal finishing firm. ^{[1] [3]}

Career

Brackenbury's first collection, Dreams of Power, was published by Carcanet Press in 1981. ^[5] It was selected as a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. ^[6] In 1982, it won an Eric Gregory Award, given for collections by poets under the age of thirty. ^[7]

Between 1985 and 1995, Carcanet published three new collections by Brackenbury, plus a Selected Poems in 1991. ^[5] In 1997, Brackenbury won a Cholmondeley Award, given each year to four distinguished poets. ^[8]

Brackenbury published four further collections with Carcanet between 2000 and 2016. ^{[5] [9] [10] [11]} In 2019, Carcanet published a second volume of selected poems, Gallop. ^[12]

Brackenbury's most recent collection was Thorpeness, in 2022. ^[13]

Brackenbury's work has appeared in many journals, including the Kenyon Review, ^[14] Ploughshares, ^[15] Stand, ^[16] and PN Review, where she has been published multiple times since her first appearance in 1980. ^{[17] [18] [19]} Her poetry has also been broadcast on BBC radio. ^[1]

Brackenbury's other published and broadcast work includes articles and reviews on poetry, the arts, and English and British folk song, ^{[3] [1] [2]} and a memoir of her grandmother, Aunt Margaret's Pudding, which includes recipes and poems. ^[20]

Awards

• 1981 Poetry Book Society Recommendation ^[6]
• 1982 Eric Gregory Award ^[7]
• 1997 Cholmondeley Award ^[8]

Works

Books

• Dreams of Power. Carcanet New Press. 1981. ISBN   978-0-85635-352-9.
• Breaking Ground. Carcanet. 1985. ISBN   978-0-85635-503-5.
• Christmas Roses. Carcanet. 1988. ISBN   978-0-85635-750-3.
• Selected Poems. Carcanet. 1991. ISBN   978-0-85635-924-8.
• 1829. Carcanet. 1995. ISBN   978-1-85754-122-9.
• After Beethoven. Carcanet. 2000. ISBN   978-1-85754-454-1.
• The Story of Sigurd. The Gruffyground Press. 2003. ISBN   0905572262.
• Bricks and Ballads. Carcanet. 2004. ISBN   978-1-85754-751-1.
• Singing in the Dark. Carcanet. 2008. ISBN   978-1-85754-914-0.
• Shadow. HappenStance. 2009. ISBN   978-1-905939-35-0.
• Then. Carcanet. 2013. ISBN   978-1847771186.
• Skies. Carcanet. 2016. ISBN   978-1784101800.
• Aunt Margaret's Pudding. HappenStance. 2018. ISBN   978-1910131435.
• Gallop: Selected Poems. Carcanet. 2019. ISBN   978-1784106959.
• Thorpeness. Carcanet. 2022. ISBN   978-1800172258.

Select journal publications

• "In the gap"; "Affairs"; "Plucked from", The Chimera, October 2007
• "When"; "Mud"; "March ending"; "Passing", nthposition, March 2008
• "6.25", The Guardian, 2 February 2008
• "Obit". Magma 39. November 2007.
• "Autumn Street". Magma 19.

References

1. Alison Brackenbury | poetryarchive.org Retrieved 2018-02-14.
2. "About Alison Brackenbury". Alison Brackenbury: poet. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
3. "Alison Brackenbury Papers". University of Manchester John Rylands Research Institute and Library. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
4. "The Chimaera, October 2007: Alison Brackenbury". www.the-chimaera.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
5. "Alison Brackenbury". Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
6. "Alison Brackenbury". Carcanet. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
7. "Eric Gregory Awards". Society of Authors. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
8. "Cholmondeley Awards". Society of Authors. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
9. "At home with the horses". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
10. "'Leap Year'". The TLS. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
11. "Skies by Alison Brackenbury review – accumulated wisdom". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
12. "Review: Gallop by Alison Brackenbury". Spear's. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
13. "Poem of the week: Woods, and Us by Alison Brackenbury". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
14. Brackenbury, Alison (1995). "Alison Brackenbury". The Kenyon Review. 17 (3/4): 77–78. JSTOR   4337249.
15. "Read By Author | Ploughshares". www.pshares.org. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
16. Stand. 1970.
17. "Letter to no-one". PN Review. 16 (7.2). November–December 1980.
18. "'So' and other poems". PN Review. 219 (41.1). September–October 2014.
19. "Poems, Authors - B". PN Review. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
20. "Alison Brackenbury". Literature Works. Retrieved 10 February 2025.

External links

• "Author's website"
• Alison Brackenbury reads poems on PoetCasting
• "Interview: Alison Brackenbury talks to Paul Stevens", The Chimaera, May 2008