Celebrating the monumental news that Joelle Taylor has won the 2021 TS Eliot Prize for her collection C+nto & Othered Poems (2021, The Westbourne Press), described by judge Glyn Maxwell as “a blazing book of rage and light, a grand opera of liberation from the shadows of indifference and oppression.”
Joelle is one of the hearts of Out-Spoken and it’s hard to convey the energy she brings to everything she does. She writes fearlessly, lives generously and wears the hell out of a suit — we, and UK poetry, are lucky to have her and it’s a joy to celebrate this well-deserved success.
Anthony posted this on Instagram, and it feels right to share here too:
This is my friend Joelle. I met her in 2000 when I was 17 in the basement of the Poetry Society offices. The 5 years I spent at secondary school were difficult. I was in every bottom set in one of the top state grammar schools in the country. My peers were all exceptionally bright, scholarly and eager. I lacked interest in most things aside from language and poems.
My mum entered me into a competition themed around Respect which Joelle had founded that same year. Because I wasn’t part of a school or group I had to read my poem to her so as to qualify for the slam. I remember standing there, the paper shaking, my mouth dry, reading what I’d written. She rocked back and forth, closing her eyes and moving her feet. I felt seen, alive, heard, accepted. When I finished she clapped, hugged me and said ‘son, that was exceptional.’ On the train back to north London my mum told me how proud she was, and for the first time in my seventeen year life I felt I’d properly achieved something.
Why am I telling you this? Because this story isn’t unique. I’m not unique. I’m part of a long line of young adults who found the confidence to move forward through Joelle’s energy, love, encouragement and care. Twenty odd years later she’s still one of my best friends. Last night her poetry book C+NTO won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize. What that said to me was not only is her work and skill as a writer formally recognised, but the support she’s shown thousands of people over a 30 year period has now come back to hold her up. She’s a maverick, an intellect and an artist like few I’ve met.
“this story isn’t unique. I’m not unique. I’m part of a long line of young adults who found the confidence to move forward through Joelle’s energy, love, encouragement and care”
Going forward I hope everyone reads Joelle’s poetry. She’s never been concerned with trends and zeitgeist subjects, she’s been writing these poems from the very start. I want us to celebrate her win, to see what it means for those who came from poor backgrounds, from performance poetry and spoken word, and how Joelle’s community can now benefit from feeling that little bit more seen.
— Anthony Anaxagorou
“Prizes don’t define a book’s cultural and spiritual value, but in a sector starved of attention they every so often get it right. Last night the three judges got it right. ”
