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Found this interesting: Britain's first female poet laureate
Carol Ann Duffy has been appointed Britain's first female poet laureate after a 341-year run of men. That's an awful long monopoly, but England, not to mention poetry, has rarely been accused of being quick to change. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered for the post in 1850, but she lost out to Alfred Tennyson.)
Duffy first got attention in 1999 with the collection "The World's Wife," which views literature and history through the eyes of women behind myth-making men (poems include "Mrs. Faust" and "Pilate's Wife"). According to a story in the Guardian, she was widely regarded as runner-up in 1999, when then-Prime Minister Tony Blair chose outgoing laureate Andrew Motion. Rumor had it Blair believed England wasn't ready for Duffy: She's not just a woman, but she's also a lesbian.
More at the link above.
Carol Ann Duffy has been appointed Britain's first female poet laureate after a 341-year run of men. That's an awful long monopoly, but England, not to mention poetry, has rarely been accused of being quick to change. (Elizabeth Barrett Browning was considered for the post in 1850, but she lost out to Alfred Tennyson.)
Duffy first got attention in 1999 with the collection "The World's Wife," which views literature and history through the eyes of women behind myth-making men (poems include "Mrs. Faust" and "Pilate's Wife"). According to a story in the Guardian, she was widely regarded as runner-up in 1999, when then-Prime Minister Tony Blair chose outgoing laureate Andrew Motion. Rumor had it Blair believed England wasn't ready for Duffy: She's not just a woman, but she's also a lesbian.
More at the link above.
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