Carol Ann Duffy named first female Poet Laureate

Published on Friday 1 May 2009 11:27

CAROL Ann Duffy confirmed that she is the new Poet Laureate today – the first female laureate in the post's 341-year history.

Duffy succeeds Andrew Motion, who has held the post since 1999.

She was widely expected to take over the role and today confirmed she had accepted the job during an interview on BBC Radio 4.

Duffy said: "I'm really thrilled to have it properly announced on Woman's Hour and here in Manchester."

Duffy told the programme she had thought "long and hard" before saying she would take the job.

"I look on it as a recognition of the great woman poets we have writing now," she said.

"I've decided to accept it for that reason."

The 53-year-old is the latest in a line of poets which began with John Dryden and has included such great names as William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Betjeman.

Other names being circulated for the 5,000-a-year job had included Simon Armitage, Roger McGough and Benjamin Zephaniah.

The laureate is officially appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Government and until Tony Blair established a 10-year tenure in 1999, was a job for life.

Part of the laureate's remit is to write poems to commemorate major state occasions and events involving the Royal Family – a task which Motion said he found extremely difficult.

Before the new appointment was made, the Government sought advice on a replacement from academics, poetry specialists, as well as the public.

Duffy was such a favourite for the job that bookmakers stopped taking bets on her appointment.

She plans to donate her yearly sum of money for the new post to the Poetry Society to fund a prize for the best poetry collection of the year.

She said she did not want to take on such an honour and "complicate that with money".

The job also comes with a "butt of sack" – traditionally a type of wine, which nowadays translates into around 600 bottles of sherry.

Duffy said: "Andrew (Motion) hasn't had his yet so I've asked for mine up front."

Speaking about being born to Catholic parents, Duffy said: "Poetry for me is secular prayer."

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a statement: "I'd like to congratulate Carol Ann Duffy on her appointment as the first Poet Laureate of the 21st century and, of course, as the first woman to hold the post.

"Poetry as an art form has inspired, excited and comforted people of all ages and backgrounds for so many centuries and Carol Ann follows in a tradition set by some of the most distinguished writers in the English language.

"She is a truly brilliant modern poet who has stretched our imaginations by putting the whole range of human experiences into lines that capture the emotions perfectly and I wish her well for her ten year term."

Duffy is the author of numerous award-winning poetry collections, plays, and fairy tales and poetry for children.

Awarded an OBE in 1995 and a CBE in 2002 for services to poetry, she lives in Manchester where she is Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Culture Secretary Andy Burnham said: "Carol Ann Duffy is a towering figure in English literature today and a superb poet.

"I am delighted that she has accepted the Laureateship."

He described her as "a spell-binding performer (who) writes truly wonderful storybooks and poetry for children.

"I have no doubt at all she will carry this forward and bring a new generation to poetry."

Duffy also said in a statement: "I'm very honoured and humbled to become Poet Laureate, not only when I think of some of the great poets who have occupied the post since the 17th century, but when I think of some of the wonderful poets writing now.

"The continuance of the Laureateship is important because it properly draws attention to the central role that poetry can play in the lives of ordinary people.

"Poetry is all around us, all of the time, whether in song or in speech or on the page, and we turn to it when events, personal or public, matter most.

"In accepting this Laureateship, I hope to contribute to people's understanding of what poetry can do, and where it can be found."

Earlier this week Motion said he was "relieved" to be leaving the job.

Glasgow-born Duffy, the first Scot to take on the role, was mooted for the job when it was given to Motion but missed out amid rumours that former prime minister Tony Blair was worried about how "Middle England" would react to a lesbian laureate.