Great Regulars: Some years there'll be more good books

by women, some years by men; the judges should feel free to reflect this, and things will, one imagines, even out over time.

Except, in the case of the Forward prize, they haven't. I've just been back to check, and out of the 19 winners of the Best Collection award since the Forwards launched in 1992, only three have been women--Kathleen Jamie, Jo Shapcott and Carol Ann Duffy. Three out of 19--and we know, of course, that this year, that count is about to rise to three out of 20.

from Sarah Crown: The Guardian: Forward poetry prize: who got rid of the women?

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