Carcanet poet Sujata Bhatt has been shortlisted for the 2008 Forward Prize for Best Collection for Pure Lizard, published by Carcanet in February, it was announced this morning. The other titles on the shortlist for Best Collection are Jane Griffiths’s Another Country (Bloodaxe), Jen Hadfield’s Nigh-No-Place (Bloodaxe), Mick Imlah’s The Lost Leader (Faber), Jamie McKendrick’s Crocodiles & Obelisks (Faber) and Catherine Smith’s Lip (Smith/Doorstop Books).

Worth £10,000, the Forward Prize is one of the UK's most prestigious poetry prizes. Also recognised in the other categories are Andrew Forster, Frances Leviston and Kathryn Simmonds (for Best First Collection) and Seamus Heaney, Don Paterson and Tim Turnbull (for Best Single Poem). William Sieghart, chairman of the Forward Arts Foundation, said: '[This is] an exciting year for poetry stars of the future and respected poets who deserve a larger share of the limelight. The Forward Prizes champion new voices and it’s thrilling to see a huge presence of specialist presses.' The winners will be announced on 8th October, the eve of National Poetry Day.

Sujata Bhatt is one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary poetry. She is, the New Statesman declared, 'one of the finest poets alive', and alive in a unique way to issues of politics and gender, to place and history, to different cultural and linguistic traditions. Click here to browse her poetry collections.