Great Regulars: [Carol Ann] Duffy is the fourth author

to win the prize, after the playwright David Hare, the novelist Hanif Kureishi and the poet Tony Harrison, and was chosen by a judging panel of Hare, Margaret Drabble, Melvyn Bragg, Antonia Fraser and the president of English PEN Gillian Slovo.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Carol Ann Duffy wins PEN/Pinter prize

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Joanne Gordon, artistic director of the California Repertory Company, came up with the idea for B.S.: Bukowski.Sondheim. Both Sondheim and the estate of Bukowski have agreed to the production, which is described as a "scintillating piece [that] combines the poetry of Bukowski and the music and lyrics of Sondheim to reveal the sublime BS of life".

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Charles Bukowski and Stephen Sondheim works set for musical collage

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An introduction to the diaries of George Orwell by the late essayist Christopher Hitchens has been published in Vanity Fair, in which Hitchens explores everything from Orwell's "self-education away from such prejudices" as his dislike of Jews, to the events which gave rise to his novel of a dystopian future, Nineteen Eighty-Four.

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Christopher Hitchens's introduction to George Orwell's diaries is published

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Worth £10,000 to its winner, the Forward prize for the best poetry collection is one of the UK's top poetry awards, won in the past by Don Paterson, Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy and Ted Hughes. Although [Geoffrey] Hill, who currently holds the post of Oxford professor of poetry, has won a range of poetry prizes he has yet to take the Forward. Neither has the Pulitzer-winning [Jorie] Graham, who is described by the Poetry Foundation as "perhaps the most celebrated poet of the American post-war generation".

from Alison Flood: The Guardian: Jorie Graham and Geoffrey Hill lead Forward prize shortlist

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