Carol Ann Duffy was appointed Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom in May 2009. In the first five years of her laureateship, she has written brilliant, challenging, lyrical and relevant poetry about people, places and significant moments, past and present. From Chaucer to Shakespeare, from Valentine's Day to Christmas Eve, from the industrial cities to the White Cliffs of Dover, this selection of her public poems celebrates our nation and its rituals.
Beautifully illuminated by Stephen Raw - a wonderful textual artist who recreates words, lines and poems in the most elegant and sumptuous form - Ritual Lighting marks the half-way point of Carol Ann Duffy's Laureateship in gorgeous style, and is a stunning gift book from Britain's most popular poet.
Carol Ann Duffy lives in Manchester, where she is Professor and Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her poetry has received many awards, including the Signal Prize for Children's Verse, the Whitbread, Forward and T. S. Eliot Prizes, and the Lannan and E. M. Forster Prize in America. She was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2019. Her many collections include Mean Time, Love Poems and The Bees, which won the Costa Poetry Award. Her writing for children includes Queen Munch and Queen Nibble, The Skipping-Rope Snake and The Tear Thief. She was made a DBE in the 2015 New Year Honours list. In 2021, she was awarded the international lifetime achievement award the Golden Wreath for her achievements in poetry.