The distinguished poet  and critic John Lucas leads a discussion on the six poems short-listed for this year's Forward Prize. The poems are: "The Hut in Question" by David Harsent; "Thursday" by Lorraine Mariner; "Dunt" by Alice Oswald;  "The Day I knew I wouldn't Live for Ever" by Carole Satyamurti; "Goulash"  by Myra Schneider; and "Bufo calamito - the Natterjack toad" from "The Birkdale Nightingale" by Jean Sprackland.

 John Lucas is Professor Emeritus at the Universities of Loughborough  and Nottingham Trent. He is the author of many scholarly and critical  works, including studies of Dickens, John Clare, Arnold Bennett, Ivor Gurney and several books on English poetry, Romantic and Modern writing. His translations of the poems of Egils Saga are an Everyman Modern Classic.

He has published seven previous books of poetry, About  Nottingham (1971), Studying Grosz on the Bus (1989), Flying to Romania (1992), One for the Piano (1997), On the Track (2000), A World Perhaps : New  and Selected Poems (2002) and The Long and the Short of It (2004).

He has played cornet with many jazz groups in the Nottingham area, where he has lived since 1964. He runs Shoestring Press.

His most recent collection is Flute Music (details  below)

 

 Publications List

Flute Music, John Lucas
ISBN-13: 978-0-9551061-4-9
ISBN-10: 0-9551061-4-1
Price: £7.95