E Y E W E A R, THE BLOG - FREEDOM MEANS BEING UNAFRAID TO WRITE WHAT YOU THINK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JUNE 8 2015 THE MELITA HUME POETRY PRIZE 2015 WE HAVE TWO WINNERS, TIED FOR FIRST PLACE MARIA APICHELLA AND TONY CHAN ONE POET IS BASED IN WALES, THE OTHER, ORIGINALLY AUSTRALIAN, NOW LIVES AND WORKS IN ENGLAND BOTH WINNING COLLECTIONS MERGE TRADITIONAL FORMS (PSALMS, OR SONNETS) WITH STRIKINGLY CONTEMPORARY CONCERNS, AND CREATIVE PASSION. CHAN'S WAS COMPOSED IN 78 DAYS OF WALKING ACROSS ALL OF THE UK APICHELLA'S EXPLORES FAITH AND DOUBT IN THE CONTEXT OF WAR AND LOVE BOTH POETS WILL HAVE THEIR COLLECTIONS PUBLISHED IN EXACTLY ONE YEAR (JUNE 2016) AND WILL SHARE THE PRIZE MONEY OF £1,500 2015 JUDGE'S CITATION BY TOBY MARTINEZ DE LAS RIVAS: 'It has been a pleasure – a difficult pleasure, but a pleasure nonetheless – to have judged this year’s entries for the Melita Hume Poetry Prize which is beginning to make itself an increasingly important part of the annual literary calendar for poets who are yet to publish a first book...