The Kids clinches Costa Poetry prize

Wood Green-based lecturer Dr Hannah Lowe has won the Costa Poetry Award for her book, The Kids, which is part inspired by her time teaching literature to London sixth-formers.

The Kids is a collection of sonnets – love poems about teaching and learning. It draws on Hannah’s decade teaching English Literature in the 2000s, her own teenage learning experiences and coming of age in the 1990s, and her role as a mother.

Costa Book Award judges called The Kids “the real deal, a page turner that made them want to punch the air with joy.”

It was also shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize – poetry’s Booker Prize.

Hannah, a creative writing lecturer at Brunel University said: “It’s fantastic that The Kids will have a wider readership because of these prizes.

“The Kids presents a whole range of young people, including myself and my son, as well as the students I taught back in the 2000s. There are multifarious experiences represented, and I hope that everyone who reads it will recognise something of themselves in the poems, whether it be as a student, teacher, parent or child.”

While The Kids doesn’t shy away from asking tough questions about education, it shows real fondness for the kids themselves and their uplifting thirst for learning.

Meretta Elliott, Brunel’s head of English and humanities, said: “For Hannah to be one of ten poets in the country nominated for the TS Eliot Prize is a huge achievement.

“But in the same year to win the Costa Poetry Award is just exceptional. Creative Writing at Brunel yet again demonstrates the quality of our lecturers, and Hannah’s achievement will only further enhance the aspirations of our students.”

The Kids by Hannah Lowe is available from Bloodaxe Books, £10.99.