Tom French’s poetry collection Company is one of three titles on the Pigott Poetry Prize shortlist at Listowel Writers Week. Also shortlisted are Tara Bergin’s Savage Tales, Nithy Kasa’s Palm Wine Tapper and the Boy at Jericho.The judges citation reads as follows: [Company by Tom French is] ‘a powerfully assured and authentic book of poems. The company of the title evokes the powers and pitfalls of friendship and family, and the capacity of historic narratives and works of art to address and contain the reality of individual and collective human experience. It also refers to animals and landscapes, those agents of wordless companionship that appear through the collection like dual guarantees of environmental pressure and imaginative intensity. Company excels and delights with its spirited lyricism and through a brilliant illusion of empathic conversation on the page.’
The prizewinning author will receive €12,000 and each of the runners up €1000. The announcement will be made at the opening night of Listowel Writers’ Week on 31 May 2023.
Previous winners of this award include Paul Muldoon, Vona Groarke and Eamon Grennan.
