Four Carcanet poets are on the shortlist for the 2007 T.S. Eliot Poetry Prize, it was announced by the Poetry Book Society today. Sophie Hannah, Fiona Sampson, Edwin Morgan and Mimi Khalvati are all contenders for what has been described as ‘the prize most poets want to win’ (Andrew Motion) and ‘the world’s top poetry award’ (Irish Independent). The prize is awarded to the author of the best new collection of poetry published this year. Judges Peter Porter (Chair), Sujata Bhatt and W.N. Herbert have selected the following ten collections:

Ian Duhig, The Speed of Dark (Picador), Alan Gillis, Hawks and Doves (Gallery Press), Sophie Hannah, Pessimism for Beginners (Carcanet), Mimi Khalvati, The Meanest Flower (Carcanet), Frances Leviston, Public Dream (Picador), Sarah Maguire, The Pomegranates of Kandahar (Chatto & Windus), Edwin Morgan, A Book of Lives (Carcanet), Sean O’Brien, The Drowned Book (Picador), Fiona Sampson, Common Prayer (Carcanet) and Matthew Sweeney, Black Moon (Jonathan Cape).

Judge Peter Porter commented: ‘This year’s entries are brilliant. They exhibit the impressive diversity of contemporary poetry, and show not only a strong younger generation of writers but also the new heights achieved by established poets.’

The prize will be presented by Mrs Valerie Eliot at an award ceremony at the Wallace Collection in London on Monday 14 January 2008.