Winner Seamus Heaney Centre Prize for Poetry

Shortlisted for The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection Forward Poetry Prizes 2009

Poetry Bank Choice and Poetry Book Society Recommendation. In 2006 'The Send-Off', an elegy for a lost child, was broadcast on Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4 and the issues it raised - ante-natal testing, grief, guilt, the family, women's lives - raged on for weeks in blogs and notice boards. But no one wondered what the poem was about. It was crystal clear. The poems in Sian Hughes debut collection, The Missing are direct and emotional. They do not hide behind imagery. They deal head on with the heart of shame, with parenting, illness, loss, regret and falling in love with the wrong people.

Most minds retreat from the scenes of our greatest fears: from the children's ward, the hospital graveyard, the defeat of love. Sian Hughes, on the contrary, advances, with the flaring senses and clear eyes of a writer intent on her proper subject. These fine, bare, desolate poems are the result; each one as arresting, rare, and compelling as the truth. -- Kate Clanchy Sian Hughes's voice moves us because she manages the difficult art of putting wit to the service of strong feeling - a rare achievement. -- Hugo Williams Most minds retreat from the scenes of our greatest fears: from the children's ward, the hospital graveyard, the defeat of love. Sian Hughes, on the contrary, advances, with the flaring senses and clear eyes of a writer intent on her proper subject. These fine, bare, desolate poems are the result; each one as arresting, rare, and compelling as the truth. -- Kate Clanchy Sian Hughes's voice moves us because she manages the difficult art of putting wit to the service of strong feeling - a rare achievement. -- Hugo Williams

About the Author
Sian Hughes is a lone parent who lives in the middle of nowhere with her two young children and works part time as a teacher and in a book shop /cafe. In 2006 she won the Arvon International Poetry Competition with The Send Off, an elegy for her third child.

Awards
Winner of Seamus Heaney Centre Prize 2010 (Ireland) and Arvon Foundation International Poetry Competition 2006 (UK) and TLS / Poems on the Underground winner 1996 (UK) and Smith/Doorstop pamphlet competition winner 1998 (UK). Runner-up for Bridport Prize 2000 (UK) and Peterloo Poetry Competition 2001 (UK) and Yorkshire Open Poetry Competition 2008 (UK). Short-listed for Felix Dennis Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection 2009 (UK) and Guardian First Book Award 2009 (UK) and Poetry Book Society 2010 (UK).



Book Information
ISBN 9781844717767
Author Sian Hughes
Format Paperback
Page Count 80
Imprint Salt Publishing
Publisher Salt Publishing
Dimensions(mm) 216mm * 140mm * 5mm