View source for Carol Ann Duffy

{{Short description|Scottish poet and playwright (born 1955)}}
{{pp-pc}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = [[Dame]]
| name                = Carol Ann Duffy
| honorific-suffix    = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|DBE|FRSL|HonFBA|HonFRSE}}
| image               = Carol Ann Duffy (cropped).jpg
| imagesize           = 210px
| alt                 = 
| office              = [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]]
| monarch             = [[Elizabeth II]]
| term_start          = 1 May 2009
| term_end            = 10 May 2019
| predecessor         = [[Andrew Motion]]
| successor           = [[Simon Armitage]]
| caption             = Duffy in June 2009
| pseudonym           = 
| birth_name          = 
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|df=y|1955|12|23}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/carol-ann-duffy/|title=Carol Ann Duffy {{!}} Poet|website=Scottish Poetry Library|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-03-18}}</ref>
| birth_place         = [[Glasgow]], Scotland
| death_date          = 
| death_place         = 
| occupation          = Poet, playwright
| nationality         = Scottish
| citizenship         = 
| education           = 
| alma_mater          = [[University of Liverpool]] (B.A. Hons, Philosophy)
| period              = 
| genre               = 
| subject             = 
| movement            = 
| notableworks        = 
| spouse              = 
| children            = 1<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/carol-ann-duffy|title=Carol Ann Duffy - Poetry - Scottish Poetry Library|website=www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk|access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref>
| relatives           = 
| influences          = 
| influenced          = 
| awards              = 
| signature           = 
| signature_alt       = 
| website             = 
| portaldisp          = 
}}
'''Dame Carol Ann Duffy''' (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish<ref name=Forbes /> poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]], and was appointed [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom|Poet Laureate]] in May 2009,<ref name=about>{{cite web| url = http://www2.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/english/academic-staff/?profileID=47 | publisher=Manchester Metropolitan University| title=Prof Carol Ann Duffy| access-date= 2 November 2009| archive-date=10 May 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130510070955/http://www2.hlss.mmu.ac.uk/english/academic-staff/?profileID=47}}</ref> serving in this position until her term expired in 2019. She was the first female poet laureate, the first Scottish-born poet and the first openly lesbian poet to hold the Poet Laureate position.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8029388.stm |title=Entertainment &#124; Duffy reacts to new Laureate post |work=[[BBC News]] |date=1 May 2009 |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>

Her collections include ''Standing Female Nude'' (1985), winner of a [[Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards|Scottish Arts Council Book Award]]; ''Selling Manhattan'' (1987), which won a [[Somerset Maugham Award]]; ''Mean Time'' (1993), which won the [[Costa Book Award for Poetry|Whitbread Poetry Award]]; and ''[[Rapture (poetry collection)|Rapture]]'' (2005), which won the [[T. S. Eliot Prize]]. Her poems address issues such as [[oppression]], gender, and violence, in accessible language.<ref name=EB>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1532366/Carol-Ann-Duffy |title=Carol Ann Duffy &#124; British poet |website=Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>

==Early life==
Carol Ann Duffy was born into a Roman Catholic family in the [[Gorbals]],<ref name=scottishpoetrylibrary>{{cite web | url = http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poets/carol-ann-duffy | title=Carol Ann Duffy (b. 1955)| publisher = [[Scottish Poetry Library]] | access-date= 26 March 2015}}</ref> considered a poor part of [[Glasgow]]. She was the daughter of Mary (née Black) and Frank Duffy, an electrical fitter.<ref name=Forbes/> Her mother's parents were Irish, and her father had Irish grandparents.<ref name=scottishpoetrylibrary/> The eldest of five siblings, she has four brothers: Frank, Adrian, Eugene and Tim. The family moved to [[Stafford]], England, when Duffy was six years old. Her father worked for [[English Electric]]. A trade unionist, he stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in 1983 in addition to managing [[Stafford Town F.C.|Stafford Football Club]].<ref name=Forbes/>

Duffy was educated in Stafford at Saint Austin's RC Primary School (1962–1967), St. Joseph's Convent School (1967–1970), and [[King Edward VI High School, Stafford|Stafford Girls' High School]] (1970–1974), her literary talent encouraged by two English teachers, June Scriven at St Joseph's, and Jim Walker at Stafford Girls' High.<ref name=Forbes/> She was a passionate reader from an early age, and always wanted to be a writer, producing poems from the age of 11. When one of her English teachers died, she wrote:
{{poemquote|You sat on your desk,
swinging your legs, 
reading a poem by Yeats 
to the bored girls, 
except my heart stumbled and blushed
as it fell in love with the words and I saw the tree 
in the scratched old desk under my hands, 
heard the bird in the oak outside scribble itself on the air.<ref>Edemariam, Aida. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/26/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate "Carol Ann Duffy: I don't have Ambassadorial Talents"], ''The Guardian'', 26 May 2009.</ref>}}

==Career==
{{Quote box |align=right |quoted=true |bgcolor=#FFFFF0 |salign=right
 |quote  =<poem>
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.

Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
</poem>

 |source =From "Prayer", <br/ >''Mean Time'', Anvil, 1994<ref>{{cite web|author=William Crawley |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/2009/05/carol_ann_duffys_prayer.html |title=Will & Testament: Carol Ann Duffy's prayer |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>
}}

When Duffy was 15, June Scriven sent her poems to ''Outposts'', a publisher of pamphlets, where it was read by the bookseller Bernard Stone, who published some of them. When she was 16, she met [[Adrian Henri]], 39 at the time, one of the [[Liverpool poets]], and decided she wanted to be with him; she then lived with him for 10 years until they split in 1982. "He gave me confidence," she said, "he was great. It was all poetry, very heady, and he was never faithful. He thought poets had a duty to be unfaithful."<ref name=Winterson>{{Cite web|authorlink=Jeanette Winterson |last=Winterson |first=Jeanette |url=http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=350 |title=About {{!}} Carol Ann Duffy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531060831/http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=350 |archive-date=31 May 2013 |website=JeanetteWinterson.com |access-date=18 December 2009 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

She applied to the [[University of Liverpool]] to be near him, and began a [[philosophy]] degree there in 1974. She had two plays performed at the [[Liverpool Playhouse]], wrote a pamphlet, ''Fifth Last Song'', and received an honours degree in philosophy in 1977.<ref name=Forbes/> She won the [[National Poetry Competition]] in 1983. She worked as poetry critic for ''The Guardian'' from 1988 to 1989, and was editor of the poetry magazine, [[Ambit (magazine)|''Ambit'']]. In 1996, she was appointed as a lecturer in poetry at [[Manchester Metropolitan University]], and later became creative director of its Writing School.<ref name=EB/>

Duffy was a contender for the post of [[Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom]] in 1999 after the death of [[Ted Hughes]], but lost out to [[Andrew Motion]]. Duffy said she would not have accepted the position at that time anyway, because she was in a relationship with Scottish poet [[Jackie Kay]], had a young daughter, and would not have welcomed the public attention.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Flood |first=Alison |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/apr/27/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate-bets |title=Betting closed on next poet laureate amid speculation that Carol Ann Duffy has been chosen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430130151/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/27/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate-bets |archive-date=30 April 2009 |work=The Guardian |date=27 April 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> In the same year, she was elected as a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-09-01 |title=Duffy, Dame Carol Ann |url=https://rsliterature.org/fellows/dame-carol-ann-duffy/,%20https://rsliterature.org/fellows/dame-carol-ann-duffy/ |access-date=2025-07-07 |website=Royal Society of Literature |language=en-GB}}</ref>

She was appointed as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/world/europe/02poet.html|title=After 341 Years, British Poet Laureate Is a Woman|last=Lyall|first=Sarah|date=2 May 2009|work=The New York Times|access-date=2 May 2011}}</ref> when Motion's 10-year term was over. Duffy was featured on ''[[The South Bank Show]]'' with [[Melvyn Bragg]] in December 2009<ref>[http://www.itv.com/presscentre/thesouthbankshow/wk50carolannduffy/default.html Press Release, South Bank Show] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805130202/http://www.itv.com/presscentre/thesouthbankshow/wk50carolannduffy/default.html |date=5 August 2011 }}, 6 December 2009.</ref> and on 7 December she presented the [[Turner Prize]] to artist [[Richard Wright (artist)|Richard Wright]].<ref>{{Cite web|last=Higgins |first=Charlotte |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/dec/07/turner-prize-winner-richard-wright |title=Artist Richard Wright strikes gold as winner of this year's Turner prize |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130723014002/http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/dec/07/turner-prize-winner-richard-wright |archive-date=23 July 2013 |work=The Guardian |date=7 December 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Duffy received an Honorary Doctorate from [[Heriot-Watt University]] in 2009.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www1.hw.ac.uk/ppr/docs/network-summer-2009.pdf |title=Honorary Graduates 2009 |website=1.hw.ac.uk |access-date=17 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090816050207/http://www.hw.ac.uk/ppr/docs/network-summer-2009.pdf |archive-date=16 August 2009 }}</ref>

In 2015, Duffy was elected as an [[Honorary Fellow]] of the [[British Academy]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/british-academy-fellowship-reaches-1000-42-new-uk-fellows-are-welcomed/|title=British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed|date=16 Jul 2015 |website=[[British Academy]] |archive-date=15 December 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215224809/https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/news/british-academy-fellowship-reaches-1000-42-new-uk-fellows-are-welcomed/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Poet laureate===
In her first poem as poet laureate, Duffy tackled the scandal over British [[United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal|MPs' expenses]] in the format of a [[sonnet]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/jun/12/politics-carol-ann-duffy-poem |title=Politics by Carol Ann Duffy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120416105537/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jun/12/politics-carol-ann-duffy-poem |archive-date=16 April 2012 |work=The Guardian |date=13 June 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref> Her second, "[[Last Post (poem)|Last Post]]", was commissioned by the BBC to mark the deaths of [[Henry Allingham]] and [[Harry Patch]], the last remaining British soldiers to fight in World War I.<ref>[https://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8175000/8175790.stm "Carol Ann Duffy, Poem for the last of WWI"] , Today Programme, BBC Radio 4, 30 July 2009.</ref> Her third, "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009", addresses current events such as [[species extinction]], the [[Copenhagen United Nations Climate Change Conference|climate change conference]] in Copenhagen, the [[banking crisis]], and the [[War in Afghanistan (2001–present)|war in Afghanistan]].<ref>Duffy, Carol Ann. [https://archive.today/20091212183840/http://www.radiotimes.com/content/features/carol-ann-duffy-the-twelve-days-of-christmas/ "The Twelve Days of Christmas 2009"], ''Radio Times'', 6 December 2009.</ref> In March 2010, she wrote "Achilles (for David Beckham)" about the [[Achilles tendon]] injury that left [[David Beckham]] out of the English football team at the [[2010 FIFA World Cup]];<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://startouch.thestar.com/screens/7e829725-1f15-450c-b640-aaf0c0342443%7C_0.html |title=The Bizzaro History of the Poet L aureate |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161105180041/http://startouch.thestar.com/screens/7e829725-1f15-450c-b640-aaf0c0342443%7C_0.html |archive-date=5 November 2016 |work=[[Toronto Star]] |date=7 July 2016 |first=Bruce |last=Demara |url-status=dead}}</ref> the poem was published in ''[[Daily Mirror|The Daily Mirror]]'' and treats modern celebrity culture as a kind of mythicisation.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Flood |first=Alison |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/mar/16/carol-ann-duffy-poem-david-beckham |title=Carol Ann Duffy's poem for David Beckham is an ode to enjoy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107185443/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2010/mar/16/carol-ann-duffy-poem-david-beckham |archive-date=7 November 2012 |work=The Guardian |date=16 March 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> "Silver Lining," written in April 2010, acknowledges the grounding of flights caused by the ash of the Icelandic volcano [[Eyjafjallajökull]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/apr/20/silver-lining-carol-ann-duffy |title=Silver Lining, by Carol Ann Duffy |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111227132144/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/apr/20/silver-lining-carol-ann-duffy |archive-date=27 December 2011 |work=The Guardian |date=20 April 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> On 30 August 2010 she premièred her poem "Vigil" for the [[Manchester Pride]] Candlelight Vigil in memory of [[LGBTQ]] people who have lost their lives to [[HIV/AIDS]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Kinser |first=Jeremy |url=http://advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2010/08/30/Thousands_Attend_Manchester_HIV_Vigil/ |title=Thousands Attend Manchester HIV Vigil |publisher=Advocate.com |date=30 August 2010 |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>

Duffy wrote a 46-line poem, "Rings," for the 2011 [[wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton]]. The poem celebrates the rings found in nature and does not specifically mention the couple's names. It begins ''for both to say'' and continues: "I might have raised your hand to the sky / to give you the ring surrounding the moon / or looked to twin the rings of your eyes / with mine / or added a ring to the rings of a tree / by forming a handheld circle with you, thee, / ...". She wrote the verse with Stephen Raw, a textual artist, and a signed print of the work was sent to the couple as a wedding gift.<ref>{{cite news|last=Harrison|first=David|title=Royal wedding: Poet laureate writes verse for big day|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8469503/Royal-wedding-Poet-laureate-writes-verse-for-big-day.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8469503/Royal-wedding-Poet-laureate-writes-verse-for-big-day.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=30 April 2011|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=23 April 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Poems for a wedding|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/apr/23/wedding-carol-ann-duffy-poetry|access-date=30 April 2011|newspaper=The Guardian|date=23 April 2011}}</ref> Duffy also wrote the poem "The Throne," which she composed for the 60th anniversary of [[Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II's coronation]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Rayner|first=Gordon|title=Queen's coronation anniversary: Crown to leave Tower for first time since 1953 for Westminster Abbey service|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/10096497/Queens-coronation-anniversary-Crown-to-leave-Tower-for-first-time-since-1953-for-Westminster-Abbey-service.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/10096497/Queens-coronation-anniversary-Crown-to-leave-Tower-for-first-time-since-1953-for-Westminster-Abbey-service.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=7 October 2013|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=4 June 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In ''[[Stylist (magazine)|Stylist]]'' magazine,<ref Name="Interview"/> Duffy said of becoming poet laureate: "There's no requirement. I do get asked to do things and so far I've been happy to do them." She also spoke about being appointed to the role by [[Elizabeth II|Queen Elizabeth II]], saying: "She's lovely! I met her before I became poet laureate but when I was appointed I had an 'audience' with her which meant we were alone, at the palace, for the first time. We chatted about poetry. Her mother was friends with [[Ted Hughes]] whose poetry I admire a lot. We spoke about his influence on me."<ref Name="Interview">{{cite web|url=http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/interviews-and-profiles/interview-carol-ann-duffy|work=Stylist|title=Interview: Carol Ann Duffy|access-date=4 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007040121/http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/interviews-and-profiles/interview-carol-ann-duffy|archive-date=7 October 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

Duffy stood down as laureate in May 2019.<ref name=Guardian181027 />

==Poetry==

===Style===
Duffy's work explores both everyday experience and the rich fantasy life of herself and others. In dramatizing scenes from childhood, adolescence, and adult life, she discovers moments of consolation through love, memory, and language. [[Charlotte Mendelson]] writes in ''The Observer'':

<blockquote>Part of Duffy's talent&nbsp;– besides her ear for ordinary eloquence, her gorgeous, powerful, throwaway lines, her subtlety&nbsp;– is her ventriloquism. Like the best of her novelist peers&nbsp;... she slides in and out of her characters' lives on a stream of possessions, aspirations, idioms and turns of phrase. However, she is also a time-traveller and a shape-shifter, gliding from [[Troy]] to Hollywood, galaxies to intestines, sloughed-off skin to department stores while other poets make heavy weather of one kiss, one kick, one letter&nbsp;... from verbal nuances to mind-expanding imaginative leaps, her words seem freshly plucked from the minds of non-poets&nbsp;– that is, she makes it look easy.<ref>Mendelson, Charlotte, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/oct/13/poetry.features1 The gospel truth] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100130210416/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/oct/13/poetry.features1 |date=30 January 2010 }}, ''The Observer'', 13 October 2002.</ref></blockquote>

Of her own writing, Duffy has said: "I'm not interested, as a poet, in words like 'plash'—[[Seamus Heaney]] words, interesting words. I like to use simple words, but in a complicated way."<ref name=Forbes>{{Cite web|last=Forbes |first=Peter |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/aug/31/featuresreviews.guardianreview8 |title=Winning Lines |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213202550/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/aug/31/featuresreviews.guardianreview8 |archive-date=13 February 2013 |url-status=live |work=The Guardian |date=31 August 2002}}</ref> She told ''The Observer'': "Like the sand and the oyster, it's a creative irritant. In each poem, I'm trying to reveal a truth, so it can't have a fictional beginning."<ref>Anderson, Hephzibah. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/04/poetry.features Christmas Carol] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103162815/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2005/dec/04/poetry.features |date=3 November 2012 }}, ''The Observer'', 4 December 2005.</ref>

Duffy rose to greater prominence in UK poetry circles after her poem "Whoever She Was" won the [[Poetry Society]] National Poetry Competition in 1983.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.poetrysociety.org.uk/content/duffy09/ |title=The Poetry Society |publisher=The Poetry Society |date=1 July 2016 |access-date=17 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222131724/http://poetrysociety.org.uk/content/duffy09/ |archive-date=22 December 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>
In her first collection, ''Standing Female Nude'' (1985), she uses the voices of outsiders, for example in the poems "[[Education for Leisure]]" and "Dear Norman." Her next collection, ''Feminine Gospels'' (2002), continues this vein, showing an increased interest in long narrative poems, accessible in style and often surreal in their imagery. Her 2005 publication, ''[[Rapture (poetry collection)|Rapture]]'' (2005), is a series of intimate poems charting the course of a love affair, for which she won the £10,000 [[T. S. Eliot Prize]]. In 2007, she published ''The Hat'', a collection of poems for children. Online copies of her poems are rare, but her poem dedicated to [[U A Fanthorpe]], "Premonitions," is available through ''The Guardian'',<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/02/premonitions-carol-ann-duffy ''Premonitions''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107185757/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/02/premonitions-carol-ann-duffy |date=7 November 2012 }} ''The Guardian'', 2 May 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.</ref> and several others via ''The Daily Mirror''.<ref>[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/04/carol-ann-duffy-s-poems-for-children-115875-21330656/ ''Duffy's poems for children''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111116214041/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/04/carol-ann-duffy-s-poems-for-children-115875-21330656/ |date=16 November 2011 }}, ''Daily Mirror'', 4 May 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.</ref><ref>[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/02/a-verse-first-carol-ann-s-previously-unpublished-poem-on-the-nature-of-her-work-115875-21325387/ ''A previously unpublished poem on the nature of her work''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605222219/http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/05/02/a-verse-first-carol-ann-s-previously-unpublished-poem-on-the-nature-of-her-work-115875-21325387/ |date=5 June 2011 }}, ''Daily Mirror'', 2 May 2009. Retrieved 16 March 2010.</ref>

===In schools===
Duffy's poems are studied in British schools at ISC, GCSE, National 5, A-level, and higher levels.<ref>Martin, Ben. [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/5245613/Carol-Ann-Duffy-Profile-of-the-new-Poet-Laureate.html "Carol Ann Duffy: Profile of the new Poet Laureate"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160807204353/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/culturenews/5245613/Carol-Ann-Duffy-Profile-of-the-new-Poet-Laureate.html |date=7 August 2016 }}, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 1 May 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/ScottishtextlistSQPN5.pdf |title=Scottish Texts for New National 5 and Higher English Courses |publisher=Sqa.org.uk |access-date=17 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160517180205/http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/ScottishtextlistSQPN5.pdf |archive-date=17 May 2016 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> In August 2008, her "Education for Leisure," a poem about violence, was removed from the GCSE [[AQA Anthology]], following a complaint about its references to [[knife legislation|knife crime]] and a goldfish being flushed down a toilet. The poem begins: "Today I am going to kill something. Anything./I have had enough of being ignored and today/I am going to play God." The protagonist kills a fly, then a goldfish. The budgie panics and the cat hides. It ends with him, or her, or them, leaving the house with a knife. "The pavements glitter suddenly. I touch your arm."<ref name=Curtis/>

According to ''The Guardian'', schools were urged to destroy copies of the unedited anthology,<ref name=Curtis>Curtis, Polly. [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/04/gcses.english "Top exam board asks schools to destroy book containing knife poem"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130118051106/http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/04/gcses.english |date=18 January 2013 }}, ''The Guardian'', 4 September 2008.</ref> though this was later denied by AQA.<ref name=Addley>Addley, Esther. [https://www.theguardian.com/education/2008/sep/06/gcses.poetry.carol.ann.duffy "Poet's rhyming riposte leaves Mrs Schofield 'gobsmacked'"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219143953/http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/sep/06/gcses.poetry.carol.ann.duffy |date=19 February 2012 }}, ''The Guardian'', 6 September 2008.</ref> Duffy called the decision ridiculous. "It's an anti-violence poem," she said. "It is a plea for education rather than violence." She responded with "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", a poem about violence in other fiction, and the point of it. "Explain how poetry/pursues the human like the smitten moon/above the weeping, laughing earth ..."<ref>Duffy, Carol Ann. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/sep/06/poetry.gcses Mrs Schofield's GCSE] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107135113/http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/sep/06/poetry.gcses |date=7 November 2012 }}, ''The Guardian'', 6 September 2009.</ref> The Mrs. Schofield of the title refers to Pat Schofield, an external examiner at Lutterworth College, Leicestershire, who complained about "Education for Leisure," calling it "absolutely horrendous."<ref name="Addley"/>

For the new National Qualifications Higher English Course in Scotland, Duffy's agents, RCW Literacy Agency, refused permission for her poem, "Originally," to be reproduced in the publicly accessible version of the paper.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sqa.org.uk/files_ccc/EnglishCriticalReadingRedactedSQPH.pdf |title=SQ14/H/02: English Critical Reading |publisher=Sqa.org.uk |page=22|access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>

===''Anthologise'' annual competition for schools===
In 2011 Duffy, spearheaded a new poetry competition for schools, named [[Anthologise Poetry Competition|''Anthologise'']]. The competition is administered by the [[Poetry Book Society]] and was launched by the [[Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall|Duchess of Cornwall]] in September 2011. School students aged 11–18 from around the UK were invited to create and submit their own anthologies of published poetry. The 2011 ''Anthologise'' judges were Duffy; [[Gillian Clarke]] (National Poet for Wales); [[John Agard]]; [[Grace Nichols]] and Cambridge Professor of Children's Poetry, [[Morag Styles]]. The first ever winners of ''Anthologise''  were the sixth form pupils of [[Monkton Combe School]], [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], with their anthology titled ''The Poetry of Earth is Never Dead'', which was described by Duffy as "assured and accomplished as any anthology currently on the bookshelves."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.picador.com/poetry/prize/anthologise|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130419152819/http://www.picador.com/poetry/prize/anthologise|url-status=dead|title=Picador|date=19 April 2013|archive-date=19 April 2013|website=archive.is}}</ref>

===Plays and songs===
Duffy is also a playwright, and has had plays performed at the [[Liverpool Playhouse]] and the [[Almeida Theatre]] in London. Her plays include ''Take My Husband'' (1982), ''Cavern of Dreams'' (1984), ''Little Women, Big Boys'' (1986) ''Loss'' (1986), ''Casanova'' (2007). Her radio credits include an adaptation of ''Rapture''.<ref>Radio play ''Rapture'', performed by Fiona Shaw, with [[Eliana Tomkins]], on BBC Radio Four on 24 July 2007.</ref> Her children's collections include ''Meeting Midnight'' (1999) and ''The Oldest Girl in the World'' (2000). She also collaborated with the Manchester composer, [[Sasha Johnson Manning]], on ''The Manchester Carols'', a series of Christmas songs that premiered in [[Manchester Cathedral]] in 2007.

She also participated in the [[Bush Theatre]]'s 2011 project ''[[Sixty-Six Books]]'', for which she wrote a piece based on a book of the [[King James Bible]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/ |title=Bush Theatre |access-date=12 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110704090950/http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/biography/writers/ |archive-date=4 July 2011 |df=dmy }}</ref>

A modernised adaptation of ''[[Everyman (15th-century play)|Everyman]]'' by Duffy, with [[Chiwetel Ejiofor]] in the title role, was performed at the [[Royal National Theatre]] from April to July 2015.

==Personal life==
At the age of 16, Duffy began a relationship with poet [[Adrian Henri]], living with him until 1982.<ref name="stylist.co.uk">{{cite web |url=http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/interviews-and-profiles/interview-carol-ann-duffy |title=Interview: Carol Ann Duffy - Celebrity Interviews and Profiles - Stylist Magazine |access-date=2011-10-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007040121/http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/interviews-and-profiles/interview-carol-ann-duffy |archive-date=7 October 2011 |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Duffy later met poet [[Jackie Kay]], with whom she had a 15-year relationship.<ref name="stylist.co.uk"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7800799/Jackie-Kay-Interview.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7800799/Jackie-Kay-Interview.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Jackie Kay: Interview|first=Helen|last=Brown|date=5 June 2010|access-date=16 February 2018|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> During her relationship with Kay, Duffy gave birth to a daughter, Ella (born 1995), whose biological father is fellow poet [[Peter Benson (author)|Peter Benson]].<ref name="stylist.co.uk"/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7692436/Carol-Ann-Duffy-interview.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7692436/Carol-Ann-Duffy-interview.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Carol Ann Duffy interview|first=John|last=Preston|date=11 May 2010|access-date=16 February 2018|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Raised in her parents' Roman Catholic faith, Duffy became an [[atheist]] when she was 15. However, she has spoken of the influence her religious upbringing has had on her poetry, stating: "Poetry and prayer are very similar."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/04/poetry.features|title=Christmas Carol|first=Hephziba|last=Anderson|newspaper=The Observer |date=4 December 2005|access-date=30 January 2019|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref>

She is a [[lesbian]].<ref>{{cite web|date=18 March 2003|title=About Carol Ann Duffy|url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/carol-ann-duffy|access-date=2 June 2020|website=The Poetry Foundation|via=poets.org}}</ref>

==Honours and awards==
Duffy holds honorary doctorates from the [[University of Dundee]], the [[University of Hull]], the [[University of St Andrews]], and the [[University of Warwick]], as well as an Honorary Fellowship at [[Homerton College, Cambridge]].<ref name=about/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/reporter/2009-10/weekly/6160/section15.shtml#heading2-52 |title=College Notices – Cambridge University Reporter 6160 |publisher=University of Cambridge |date=7 October 2009 |access-date=11 April 2012}}</ref>
* 1983: [[National Poetry Competition]] 1st prize (for ''Whoever She Was'')
* 1983: Greenwich Poetry Competition ("for Words of Absolution")
* 1984: [[Eric Gregory Award]]
* 1986: [[Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards|Scottish Arts Council Book Award]] (for ''Standing Female Nude'')
* 1988: [[Somerset Maugham Award]] (for ''Selling Manhattan'')
* 1989: [[Dylan Thomas Prize]]
* 1990: [[Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards|Scottish Arts Council Book Award]] (for ''The Other Country''
* 1992: [[Cholmondeley Award]]
* 1993: [[Costa Book Award for Poetry|Whitbread Awards]] (for ''Mean Time'')
* 1993: [[Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards|Scottish Arts Council Book Award]] (for ''Mean Time'')
* 1993: [[Forward Prizes for Poetry|Forward Prize]] (for ''Mean Time'')
* 1995: [[Lannan Literary Awards|Lannan Literary Award]]
* 1999: Signal Children's Poetry Prize
* 1999: Elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]]
* 2001: [[National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts|National Endowment for Science, Technology, and the Arts]] Award
* 2005: [[T. S. Eliot Prize]] (for ''Rapture'')
* 2011: [[Costa Book Awards]] (Poetry), winner, ''The Bees''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16410520 |title=Close-up on the Costa winners |work=[[BBC News]]|first=Nick |last=Higham|date=4 January 2012 |access-date=17 July 2016}}</ref>
* 2012: [[PEN Pinter Prize]]
* 2013: Assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom by ''[[Woman's Hour]]'' on [[BBC Radio 4]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qlvb/features/power-list-100|title=BBC Radio 4 – ''Woman's Hour'' – The Power List 2013|publisher=BBC|access-date=17 July 2016|archive-date=19 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140319195056/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qlvb/features/power-list-100|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 2015: Elected as an [[Honorary Fellow]] of the [[British Academy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britac.ac.uk/news/british-academy-fellowship-reaches-1000-42-new-uk-fellows-are-welcomed|title=British Academy Fellowship reaches 1,000 as 42 new UK Fellows are welcomed|publisher=The British Academy|date=16 July 2015}}</ref>
* 2015: Elected as an Honorary Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rse.org.uk/fellow/carol-ann-duffy/|title=Dame Carol Ann Duffy DBE, HonFBA, HonFRSE - The Royal Society of Edinburgh|website=rse.org.uk|access-date=16 February 2018}}</ref>
* 2021: [[Struga Poetry Evenings]] Golden Wreath Laureate<ref>{{cite web |title=Golden Wreath Award |url=https://svp.org.mk/en/zlaten-venec/ |website=Struga Poetry Evenings |access-date=21 March 2022}}</ref>

She was appointed [[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (OBE) in 1995, [[Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (CBE) in 2002, and [[Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] (DBE) in the [[2015 New Year Honours]] for services to poetry.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=61092 |supp=y|page=N8|date=31 December 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391413/New_Year_Honours_List_2015.pdf |title=2015 New Year Honours List |website=Gov.uk |access-date=17 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102104907/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391413/New_Year_Honours_List_2015.pdf |archive-date=2 January 2015 }}</ref>

==Works==
{{BLP sources section|date=April 2017}}
* 1974: ''Fleshweathercock and Other Poems'', Outposts Ltd.<ref name=cadcp/>
* 1977: (with [[Adrian Henri]]) ''Beauty and the Beast'' (poetry).
* 1982: ''Fifth Last Song'', Headland (poetry).
* 1982: ''Take My Husband'' (play)<ref name=cadcp>O'Reilly, Elizabeth. [http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth104 "Carol Ann Duffy"]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001015842/http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth104 |date=1 October 2007 }}, Contemporary Poets website. Retrieved 4 May 2009.</ref>
* 1984: ''Cavern of Dreams'' (play).
* 1985: ''Standing Female Nude'', [[Anvil Press Poetry]] (poetry).
* 1986: ''Little Women, Big Boys'' (play).
* 1986: ''Loss'' (radio play).
* 1986: ''Thrown Voices'', [[Turret Books]], pamphlet (poetry).<ref name=pocad>Micelis, Angelica and Rowland, Anthony. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0a2I_E7_V0wC ''The Poetry of Carol Ann Duffy: Choosing Tough Roads''] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160512125227/https://books.google.com/books?id=0a2I_E7_V0wC&printsec=frontcover |date=12 May 2016 }}.</ref>
* 1987: ''Selling Manhattan'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry).
* 1990: ''The Other Country'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry).
* 1992: ''I Wouldn't Thank You for a Valentine'' (editor), Viking (poetry anthology).<ref name=ggwwilagwca>Griffin, Gabriele. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ybtkoNXz7XUC "Duffy, Carol Ann"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729091031/https://books.google.com/books?id=ybtkoNXz7XUC&printsec=frontcover#PPA61,M1 |date=29 July 2016 }}, ''Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay Writing'', Routledge, 2002, {{ISBN|978-0-415-15984-5}}.</ref>
* 1992: ''William and the Ex-Prime Minister'', Anvil Press Poetry, pamphlet, (poetry).
* 1993: ''Mean Time'' Anvil Press Poetry (poetry).
* 1994: ''Anvil New Poets Volume 2'' (editor), [[Penguin Books]] (poetry anthology).<ref name=Forbes />
* 1994: ''Selected Poems'' Penguin (poems).
* 1995: ''Penguin Modern Poets 2'', with [[Vicki Feaver]] and [[Eavan Boland]], Penguin (poetry).
* 1996: [[Grimm Tales (play)|"Grimm Tales"]], [[Faber and Faber]] (play).
* 1996: ''Salmon – Carol Ann Duffy: Selected Poems'', Salmon Poetry (poetry).
* 1996: ''Stopping for Death'', Viking (poetry anthology).
* 1997: ''More Grimm Tales'', Faber and Faber (children's play).
* 1998: ''The Pamphlet'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry).
* 1999: ''Meeting Midnight'', Faber and Faber (children's poetry).
* 1999: ''[[The World's Wife]]'', Anvil Press Poetry (poetry).
* 1999: ''Time's Tidings: Greeting the 21st Century'' (editor), Anvil Press Poetry (poetry anthology).
* 2000: ''The Oldest Girl in the World'', Faber and Faber (children's poetry).
* 2001: ''Hand in Hand: An Anthology of Love Poems'' (editor), Picador (poetry anthology).
* 2002: ''Feminine Gospels'', Picador.
* 2002: ''Queen Munch and Queen Nibble'', Macmillan Children's Books.
* 2002: ''Underwater Farmyard'', Macmillan Children's Books (children's book).
* 2003: ''The Good Child's Guide to Rock N Roll'', Faber and Faber (children's poetry).
* 2003: ''Collected Grimm Tales'' (with Tim Supple), Faber and Faber (children's book).
* 2004: ''Doris the Giant'' (children's literature, picture book).
* 2004: ''New Selected Poems'', Picador.
* 2004: ''Out of Fashion: An Anthology of Poems'' (editor), Faber and Faber (poetry anthology).
* 2004: ''Overheard on a Saltmarsh: Poets' Favourite Poems'' (editor), Macmillan.
* 2005: ''Another Night Before Christmas'', with John Murray (children's poetry).
* 2005: ''Moon Zoo'', Macmillan (children's literature, picture book).
* 2005: ''[[Rapture (poetry collection)|Rapture]]'', Picador (poetry).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/jan/07/featuresreviews.guardianreview19|title=Review: Rapture by Carol Ann Duffy|first=Margaret|last=Reynolds|date=7 January 2006|website=The Guardian|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref>
* 2006: ''The Lost Happy Endings'' (illustrated by Jane Ray), Penguin (children's book).
* 2007: ''Answering Back'' (editor), Picador (poetry anthology).
* 2007: ''The Hat''. Faber and Faber (children's poetry).
* 2007: ''The Tear Thief''. Barefoot Books (children's book).
* 2009: ''Mrs Scrooge: A Christmas Poem'' (illustrated by Beth Adams), Simon & Schuster.
* 2009: ''New & Collected Poetry for Children'' Faber and Faber (poetry).
* 2009: ''The Princess's Blankets'' (illustrated by Catherine Hyde). Templar (children's book).
* 2009: ''The Twelve Poems of Christmas'' (editor), Candlestick Press (poetry).
* 2009: ''To The Moon: An Anthology of Lunar Poetry'' (editor), Picador (poetry).
* 2009: ''Love Poems'', Picador (poetry, selected).
* 2010: ''The Gift'' Barefoot Books (children's book).
* 2011: ''[[The Bees (book)|The Bees]]'' Picador (poetry, selected).
* 2011: ''The Christmas Truce'' (illustrated by David Roberts) Picador.
* 2012: ''Wenceslas: A Christmas Poem'' (illustrated by Stuart Kolakovic), Picador.
* 2014: ''Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday'' (illustrated by Tom Duxbury), Picador.<ref name="Duffy2014">{{cite book|author=Carol Ann Duffy|title=Dorothy Wordsworth's Christmas Birthday|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_xfFBAAAQBAJ&pg=PP5|access-date=27 April 2018|date=23 October 2014|publisher=Pan Macmillan|isbn=978-1-4472-7151-2|pages=5–}}</ref>
* 2015: ''The Wren-Boys'' (illustrated by Dermot Flynn), Picador.
* 2018: ''Sincerity'' (Picador), {{isbn|978-1-5098-9342-3}}.<ref name=Guardian181027>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/27/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate-books-interview |title=Carol Ann Duffy: 'With the evil twins of Trump and Brexit ... there was no way of not writing about that, it is just in the air' |first=Lisa |last=Allardice |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=27 October 2018 |access-date=27 October 2018}}</ref>
* 2018: ''Eight World's Wives'' Published by Andrew J Moorhouse (Fine Press Poetry).
* 2020: "Anne Hathaway" in ''The Women Writers' Handbook'' (Aurora Metro Books)

==See also==
* [[List of poets portraying sexual relations between women|Lesbian Poetry]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*Michelis, Angelica and Antony Rowland (eds). ''The Poetry of Carol Ann Duffy: Choosing Tough Words''. Manchester University Press, 2003.
*Randolph, Jody. "Remembering Life before Thatcher: Selected Poems by Carol Ann Duffy." ''Women's Review of Books'' 12.8, May 1995.

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}
*[https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/english/mcr-writing-school Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University]
*[https://www.bbc.co.uk/poetryseason/poets/carol_ann_duffy.shtml Carol Ann Duffy at BBC Poetry Season]
*{{British council|id=carol-ann-duffy|name=Carol Ann Duffy}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130819165441/http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=11468 Duffy at the Poetry Archive, Biography and audio files].
*[http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20050813/ai_n14885362 The 5-Minute Interview]{{dead link|date=May 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20130531060831/http://www.jeanettewinterson.com/pages/content/index.asp?PageID=350 Jeanette Winterson Interview]
*[https://archive.today/20130110185427/http://web.channel4.com/learning/main/netnotes//programid1436.htm Channel 4]
* {{LCAuth|n86014747|Carol Ann Duffy|31|ue}}
* {{NPG name|id=94427}}

{{Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath Laureates}}
{{Poets Laureate of the United Kingdom}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duffy, Carol Ann}}
[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool]]
[[Category:British poets laureate]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:Former Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:People from Stafford]]
[[Category:British atheists]]
[[Category:Scottish people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:British women poets]]
[[Category:Academics of Manchester Metropolitan University]]
[[Category:Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of Homerton College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:20th-century British poets]]
[[Category:21st-century British poets]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish women writers]]
[[Category:21st-century British women writers]]
[[Category:British dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:21st-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:British women dramatists and playwrights]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of the British Academy]]
[[Category:T. S. Eliot Prize winners]]
[[Category:English LGBTQ writers]]
[[Category:Scottish lesbian writers]]
[[Category:Lesbian academics]]
[[Category:21st-century British LGBTQ people]]
[[Category:Struga Poetry Evenings Golden Wreath laureates]]