Jonathan Edwards (poet)

Jonathan Edwards (born 16 October 1979) is a Welsh poet, who was born in Newport and grew up in Crosskeys.[1] His debut poetry collection My Family and Other Superheroes won the Costa Book Award for Poetry in 2014.

Jonathan Edwards
Born (1979-10-16) 16 October 1979
Newport, Wales
OccupationPoet
LanguageEnglish
NationalityWelsh
Period2010–present
Notable works
  • My Family and Other Superheroes (2014)
Notable awards

Biography

Edwards first came to prominence as the winner of the Terry Hetherington Award in 2010, before picking up prizes at both the Cardiff International Poetry Competition and the Basil Bunting Poetry Competition in 2012.[2]

His first book, the poetry collection My Family and Other Superheroes, won a £1,000 first-place prize at the Ledbury Poetry Festival's International Competition in 2014,[3] and the Costa Book Award for Poetry in 2014.[4] Edwards described the collection as reflecting a sense of Welsh pop culture and its relation to broader Western culture, history, family, and the lives of ordinary people.[5] According to coverage of the Costa Award by The Daily Telegraph, My Family and Other Superheroes saw "celebrities and fictional characters such as Sophia Loren and Evel Knievel collide with reflections on the social architecture of working class Welsh valleys."[6]

Edwards holds a BA in English and American Literature and an MA in writing from the University of Warwick.[2] After winning the Terry Hetherington Award in 2010, he later went on to judge the award, and also edited the award's Cheval anthology between 2013 and 2017. He currently teaches English at a secondary school in Monmouth.[3][7]

Publications

Poetry
  • 2014: My Family and Other Superheroes, Seren
  • 2018: Gen, Seren

As editor
  • 2013: Cheval 6: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2013 (ed. with Alan Perry), Parthian
  • 2014: Cheval 7: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2014 (ed. with Alan Perry), Parthian
  • 2015: Cheval 8: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2015 (ed. with Alan Perry), Parthian
  • 2016: Cheval 9: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2016 (ed. with Rose Widlake), Parthian
  • 2017: Cheval 10: The Terry Hetherington Award Anthology 2017 (ed. with Glyn Edwards and Rose Widlake), Parthian
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References
  1. Kirstie McCrum (5 January 2015). "Crosskeys poet bags Costa prize for debut collection". Wales Online.
  2. "Jonathan Edwards – Seren Books". Seren Books. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. Emma Mackintosh (31 October 2014). "Teacher wins top poetry prize". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  4. "English teacher Jonathan Edwards wins Costa poetry prize". BBC. 5 January 2015. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  5. Jonathan Edwards. "Gregory Peck, Evel Knievel and the Chartists: on My Family and Other Superheroes". New Welsh Review (104).
  6. Vincent, Alice (5 January 2015). "Wartime adaptation of Five Children and It wins in Costa Book Award categories". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2015-01-20.
  7. "A discussion with poet, Jonathan Edwards". 12 December 2014.


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