T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry – Sinead Morrissey
Announced on 13th Jan 2014
Belfast’s inaugural poet laureate Sinead Morrissey was announced as the winner on Monday. The award has been described by Andrew Motion as “the prize most poets want to win”. Morrissey has been shortlisted for the prize three times before but it was her most recent “politically, historically and personally ambitious” work that won it this year.
Mary Waring — The Wealthy Woman: a Man is Not a Financial Plan: A Woman’s Guide to Achieving Financial Security
Wealth for Women Publishing, January 2014
This one is the curveball on the list; it might be the best thing we’ve ever read post-2008 but
equally it might be hilariously bad, crushingly pro-capitalist and materialistic. If that proves to be the case — know thine enemy. Therefore either way, we’re reading it (this is not to say we ever actually thought a man was a financial plan).
‘Keble Meet the Poets’ Series with Simon Armitage
Pusey Room, Keble, 30th January, 6.30pm
Simon Armitage, renowned poet and translator of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, is coming to Keble. He has received numerous prizes and, for the English students among you, his translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the best out there by far.
Kate Tempest, Brand New Ancients
North Wall Arts Centre, 26th – 27th February, £12
Poet and spoken word artist Kate Tempest is bringing her sell-out show to Oxford. She tells
an everyday epic over a live score (some of which is played by a tuba). Her edgy and exciting verse will make you realise that the gods of today are all around us and that our true he-roes are much closer than we think.
Cezanne and the Modern
Ashmolean, 13th March – 22nd June, free with a Bod card
The Ashmolean’s spring exhibition doesn’t start until the end of term but the anticipation might motivate you through those dark days of February. Alternatively, it will be a good way to entertain your parents when they come to pick you up. The museum has lined up a stellar collection of paintings from greats including Cezanne (obviously), Paul Gauguin, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Edouard Manet, Edgar Degas and Amedeo Modigliani. The paintings come from the Henry and Rose Pearlman collection and have never before been shown together in Europe.
