NI poetry newcomer up for award

Nick Laird says poetry is his first love

A Northern Ireland-born poet has been nominated for the UK's highest-profile annual poetry award with his debut collection of verse, To A Fault.

Nick Laird, 30, from Cookstown, County Tyrone, has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize for his first collection.

A lawyer until recently, he is married to White Teeth novelist Zadie Smith.

His first novel was published earlier this year and he has signed a lucrative two-book deal for his fiction, but said poetry remained his first love.

"My wife is a novelist, obviously, and we sort of carved it up that that was her area and this was my area," he said.

His publisher says that his debut collection "explores the sharp edge of relationships, from the intimacy of lovers to the brutality of political violence".

The other contenders in the £5,000 best first collection category are Helen Farish for Intimates; Richard Price for Lucky Day; James Sheard for Scattering Eva; and Jane Yeh for Marabou.

The winner will be announced at a ceremony in London on 5 October.

Five poets have also been nominated in the £10,000 best collection category.

The nominees are John Burnside for The Good Neighbour; David Harsent for Legion; Alan Jenkins for A Shorter Life; Alice Oswald for Woods etc; and John Stammers for Stolen Love Behaviour.