Carol Ann Duffy

Scottish poet and playwright · United Kingdom · On the map · Writers · Born 1955 · age 70

Dame Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, serving in this position until her term ended in 2019.

Carol Ann Duffy is read about 274 times a day, in 33 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 6 November 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 104 days, one point a day.

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A life in dates

2015Fellow of the Royal Society of EdinburghAward2012PEN Pinter PrizeAward2009Honorary DoctorateAward2005“What do I have / to help me, without spell or prayer, / endure this hour, endless, heartless, anonymous, / the death of love?”In their wordsOver, from Rapture (2005).Read the whole statement

“There'll be what you might call a moment of inspiration - a way of seeing or feeling or remembering, an instance or a person that's made a large impression.”In their words4 December 2005Interviewed in The GuardianRead the whole statement

2000E. M. Forster AwardAward1999Fellow of the Royal Society of LiteratureAward1993“Not a red rose or a satin heart. / I give you an onion. / It is a moon wrapped in brown paper. / It promises light / like the careful undressing of love...”In their wordsValentine, from Mean Time (1993).Read the whole statement

“Here. / It will blind you with tears / like a lover. / It will make your reflection / a wobbling photo of grief.”In their wordsValentine, from Mean Time (1993).Read the whole statement

1992Cholmondeley AwardAward1988Somerset Maugham AwardAward1985“Six hours like this for a few francs. / Belly nipple arse in the window light, / he drains the colour from me. Further to the right, / Madame. And do try to be still.”In their wordsStanding Female Nude.Read the whole statement

“One saw I was alive. Loosened / his belt. My bowels opened in a ragged gape of fear. / Between the gap of corpses I could see a child. / The soldiers laughed.”In their wordsShooting Stars.Read the whole statement

1984Eric Gregory AwardAward1955Born23 December 1955

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Carol Ann Duffy

4 statements, newest first

When you have a child, your previous life seems like someone else's. It's like living in a house and suddenly finding a room you didn't know was there, full of treasure and light.
4 December 2005 · Interviewed in The Guardian, Own words
I cannot say where you are. Unreachable / by prayer, even if poems are prayers. Unseeable / in the air, even if souls are stars.
2002 · Death and the Moon, from Feminine Gospels (2002)., Own words
Somewhere on the other side of this wide night / and the distance between us, I am thinking of you. / The room is turning slowly away from the moon.
1990 · Words, Wide Night, from The Other Country (1990)., Own words