Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944 Forest Hill, South London) is a British poet.

Life

Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her degree. She gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Writing for the Stage (with Distinction) from City College Manchester in 2001.

She taught at University of Kent at Canterbury (1983-5), Queen's University Belfast (1991-3 and 1995-8)), University College Cork (1994), University of Stockholm (1999), and University of Hull.^[1] As visiting Professor of Creative Writing, she now teaches at the University of Wales, Bangor.^[2] and the University of Hull.

Rumens was Poetry Editor for the publisher Quarto (1982-4) and the Literary Review (1984–1988). Her work has appeared in The Guardian,^[3] and Harper's.^[4] She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984.^[5]

Awards

• 1981 Alice Hunt Bartlett Award (joint winner) Unplayed Music
• 1981 New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award An Easter Garland
• 1984 Cholmondeley Award
• 1998 Belfast Arts Award for Literature (shortlist) Holding Pattern
• 1998 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist - A Day in the Life of Farmer Dream)
• 2001 Cardiff International Poetry Competition (Fourth Prize - Kings of the Playground)
• 2001 National Poetry Competition (Stay in Touch)
• 2002 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist)

Works

Poetry

• "Girl, Got; Direct Train; December in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City; Dotage". Acorn 15. 

• A Strange Girl in Bright Colours. Quartet. 1973. 
• A Necklace of Mirrors Ulsterman, 1978
• Unplayed Music. Secker & Warburg. 1981. 
• Scenes from the Gingerbread House. Bloodaxe. 1982. ISBN 978-0-906427-27-9. 
• Star Whisper. Secker & Warburg. 1983. ISBN 978-0-436-43901-8. 
• Direct Dialling. Chatto & Windus. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7011-2911-8. 
• Icon Waves The Star Wheel Press, 1986
• Selected Poems. Chatto & Windus. 1987. ISBN 978-0-7011-3201-9. 
• The Greening of the Snow Beach. Bloodaxe. 1988. ISBN 978-1-85224-062-2. 
• From Berlin to Heaven. Chatto & Windus. 1989. 
• Thinking of Skins: New and Selected Poems. Bloodaxe. 1993. ISBN 978-1-85224-280-0. 
• Best China Sky. Bloodaxe. 1995. ISBN 978-1-85224-337-1. 
• The Miracle Diet. Bloodaxe. 1997. ISBN 978-1-85224-418-7. 
• Holding Pattern. Blackstaff Press. 1998. ISBN 978-0-85640-638-6. 
• Hex. Bloodaxe. 2002. ISBN 978-1-85224-602-0. 
• Selected Poems 1968-2004. Bloodaxe. 2004. ISBN 978-1-85224-680-8. 
• Blind Spots. Seren. 2008. ISBN 978-1-85411-465-5. 
• De Chirico's Threads. Seren. 2010. ISBN 978-1-85411-534-8. 

Novels

• Plato Park. Chatto & Windus. 1987. ISBN 978-0-7011-3202-6. 

Editor

• Making for the Open: The Chatto Book of Post-Feminist Poetry 1964-1984. Chatto & Windus. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7011-2848-7. 
• Slipping Glimpses: Winter Poetry Supplement (editor) Poetry Book Society, 1985
• New Women Poets. Bloodaxe. 1990. ISBN 978-1-85224-145-2. 
• Two Women Dancing: New and Selected Poems of Elizabeth Bartlett (editor) Bloodaxe, 1995
• Old City, New Rumours: A Hull Anthology (editor Five Leaves Press, 2010

Plays

• Nearly Siberia (Pascal Theatre Company, Newcastle and London, 1989)
• The Freak of the Week Show (EyeSpy Theatre Company, East Didsbury Studio, Manchester, 2001)
• Suzanne Hecabe (Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, 2002).

Translations

• Pencil Letter /Irina Ratushinskaya (translator) Bloodaxe, 1988
• The Poetry of Perestroika. Translator Carol Rumens, Richard McKane. Iron Press. 1990. ISBN 978-0-906228-35-7. 
• After Pushkin (contributor) Carcanet, 2000 with Yuri Drobyshev
• Yevgenii Rein: Selected Poems (translator) Bloodaxe, 2001

Non-fiction

• Self into Song: Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures Bloodaxe, 2006
• Carol Rumens (21 January 2009). "Elizabeth Alexander's praise poem was way too prosy". The Guardian (London). 
• Carol Rumens (15 December 2008). "Poem of the week: Darling, Would You Please Pick Up Those Books?". The Guardian (London). 
• Carol Rumens (23 August 1992). "BOOKS / Poetry: Carol Rumens on two exciting new collections". The Independent (London). 
• Writing Poetry. Routledge. 2006. ISBN 978-0-415-30389-7. 

References

External links

• "Carol Rumens", doollee
• "Poem of the week: Christmas at Sea by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson telescopes the distance between a cosy Christmas scene and a life-and-death struggle on the high seas, Carol Rumens, The Guardian, 24 December 2012