The Forward Prizes for Poetry
2023 Prize Ceremony

Renowned for championing new poetic voices and internationally celebrated writers alike, the Forward Prizes for Poetry showcase the diverse excellence of contemporary poetry, and all its boundary-pushing innovations.

The 2023 Ceremony took place at Leeds Playhouse on 16 October, with 20 shortlisted poets reading to an audience of over 500, as well as a live-stream audience at home.

Hosted by chairs of judges Joelle Taylor and Bernardine Evaristo, the winners were:

• Best Collection: Jason Allen-Paisant, Self Portrait as Othello (Carcanet)

• Best First Collection: Momtaza Mehri, Bad Diaspora Poems (Jonathan Cape)

• Best Single Poem – Written: Malika Booker, ‘Libation’ (The Poetry Review)

• Best Single Poem – Performed: Bohdan Piasecki, ‘Almost Certainly’

I worked as the producer for the Forward 2023 event, coordinating the logistics of the day including the script and running order, logistics of all shortlisted poets’ performances, live-streaming, captioning and BSL interpretation.