Carol Rumens Explained

Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944) is a British poet.

Life

Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to Manchester grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her degree. She gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Writing for the Stage (with Distinction) from City College Manchester in 2002.

She taught at University of Kent at Canterbury (1983–85), Queen's University Belfast (1991–93 and 1995–98), University College Cork (1994), University of Stockholm (1999), and University of Hull.^[1] As visiting Professor of Creative Writing, she has taught at the University of Wales, Bangor,^[2] and later at the University of Hull.

Rumens was Poetry Editor for the publisher Quarto (1982–84) and the literary Review (1984–88). Her work has appeared in The Guardian^[3] and Harper's.^[4] She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984.^[5]

Awards

• 1984: Alice Hunt Bartlett Award (joint winner), forUnplayed Music
• 1981: New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award, for An Easter Garland
• 1984: [Cholmondeley Award]
• 1998: Belfast Arts Award for Literature (shortlist), for Holding Pattern
• 1998: Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlisted for "A Day in the Life of Farmer Dream")
• 2001: Cardiff International Poetry Competition (Fourth Prize, for "Kings of the Playground")
• 2001: National Poetry Competition ("Stay in Touch")
• 2002: Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist)

Works

Poetry

• Girl, Got; Direct Train; December in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City; Dotage . Acorn 15 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080518054330/http://acorn.dublinwriters.org/EA15/rumenspoem.htm . 2008-05-18 .
• Book: A Strange Girl in Bright Colours . Quartet. 1973 .
• A Necklace of Mirrors Ulsterman, 1978
• Book: Unplayed Music . Secker & Warburg. 1981 .
• Book: Scenes from the Gingerbread House . Bloodaxe. 1982. 978-0-906427-27-9 .
• Book: Star Whisper . Secker & Warburg . 1983 . 978-0-436-43901-8 . registration .
• Book: Direct Dialling . Chatto & Windus. 1985. 978-0-7011-2911-8 .
• Icon Waves The Star Wheel Press, 1986
• Book: Selected Poems . Chatto & Windus. 1987. 978-0-7011-3201-9 .
• Book: The Greening of the Snow Beach . Bloodaxe. 1988. 978-1-85224-062-2 .
• Book: From Berlin to Heaven . Chatto & Windus. 1989 .
• Book: Thinking of Skins: New and Selected Poems . Bloodaxe. 1993. 978-1-85224-280-0 .
• Book: Best China Sky . Bloodaxe. 1995. 978-1-85224-337-1 .
• Book: The Miracle Diet . Bloodaxe. 1997 . 978-1-85224-418-7 .
• Book: Holding Pattern . Blackstaff Press. 1998 . 978-0-85640-638-6 .
• Book: Hex . Bloodaxe. 2002. 978-1-85224-602-0 .
• Book: Selected Poems 1968-2004 . Bloodaxe. 2004 . 978-1-85224-680-8 .
• Book: Blind Spots . Seren. 2008 . 978-1-85411-465-5 .
• Book: De Chirico's Threads . Seren. 2010. 978-1-85411-534-8 .
• The Emigree

Novels

• Book: Plato Park. Chatto & Windus. 1987. 978-0-7011-3202-6 .

Editor

• Book: Making for the Open: The Chatto Book of Post-Feminist Poetry 1964-1984 . Chatto & Windus. 1985. 978-0-7011-2848-7 .
• Slipping Glimpses: Winter Poetry Supplement (editor), Poetry Book Society, 1985
• Book: New Women Poets . Bloodaxe. 1990. 978-1-85224-145-2 .
• Two Women Dancing: New and Selected Poems of Elizabeth Bartlett (editor), Bloodaxe, 1995
• Old City, New Rumours: A Hull Anthology (editor Five Leaves Press, 2010

Plays

• Nearly Siberia (Pascal Theatre Company, Newcastle and London, 1989)
• The Freak of the Week Show (EyeSpy Theatre Company, East Didsbury Studio, Manchester, 2001)
• Suzanne Hecabe (Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, 2002).

Translations

• Pencil Letter /Irina Ratushinskaya (translator), Bloodaxe, 1988
• Book: The Poetry of Perestroika . Iron Press. 1990 . Carol Rumens . Richard McKane . 978-0-906228-35-7 .
• After Pushkin (contributor), Carcanet, 2000 with Yuri Drobyshev
• Yevgenii Rein: Selected Poems (translator), Bloodaxe, 2001

Non-fiction

• Self into Song: Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures, Bloodaxe, 2006
• News: Elizabeth Alexander's praise poem was way too prosy. Carol Rumens . The Guardian. 21 January 2009 . London.
• News: Poem of the week: Darling, Would You Please Pick Up Those Books?. Carol Rumens . The Guardian. 15 December 2008 . London.
• News: BOOKS / Poetry: Carol Rumens on two exciting new collections . Carol Rumens . The Independent. 23 August 1992 . London.
• Book: Writing Poetry . Routledge. 2002 . 978-0-415-30389-7 .

External links

• "Carol Rumens", doollee
• "Poem of the week: Christmas at Sea by Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Louis Stevenson telescopes the distance between a cosy Christmas scene and a life-and-death struggle on the high seas", Carol Rumens, The Guardian, 24 December 2012

Notes and References

1. Web site: Carol Rumens . 7 July 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090720120201/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth218 . 20 July 2009 .
2. Web site: Carol Rumens . University of Sharks, Bangor . https://web.archive.org/web/20071110195424/http://www.bangor.ac.uk/creative_industries/rumens.php . 10 November 2007 . dead .
3. News: "Carol Rumens". The Guardian . London . 8 July 2008 . 28 April 2010 .
4. Rumens . Carol . January 2005 . Welsh Stream . . Harper's Foundation . 310 . 1856 . 16 . 14 December 2018 .
5. Web site: Royal Society of Literature All Fellows . Royal Society of Literature . 10 August 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100305070326/http://www.rslit.org/content/fellows . 5 March 2010 .