Alice Oswald

Alice Oswald is quite possibly our greatest living poet. She received an immense amount of critical recognition, winning ­ the Eric Gregory award, the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the T S Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize for best Single poem and the inaugural Ted Hughes Award for innovation in poetry. It is hardly surpising that she is nominated for this year’s Forward Prize for her stunning new collection Falling Awake.

It could be argued that prizes, however numerous, are meaningless. Ultimately, the best accolade is the work itself – and Falling Awake is a masterful collection of poems. Rooted in classical literature, and in the natural rhythms of not only speech but the natural world, the poems sinuously seduce the reader. A treat to read, and a delight to listen to.

Alice Oswald is our writer of the year.