The shortlists for the 19^th annual Forward Prizes for Poetry, one of the UK's most valuable poetry prizes, were announced on 21 July 2010. On the Best Collection short list two former category winners compete with poets on the list for the first time, while the short list for Best Single Poem brings many new faces to the fore.

 

Highlights include:

 

• Robin Robertson, previous winner of all three Forward Prizes, is shortlisted for the second time for Best Collection, alongside another previous Best Collection winner, Jo Shapcott

 

• Seamus Heaney shortlisted for Best Collection 44 years after the publication of his first book of poems

 

• Lachlan Mackinnon, Sinéad Morrissey and Fiona Sampson shortlisted for Best Collection for the first time 

 

• Two poets from Scotland, Northern Ireland and England on the Best Collection shortlist 

 

• Shortlisted works feature emotive themes of cancer, mental illness and youth violence alongside a fun look at pirates

 

The shortlists are:

 

The Forward Prize for Best Collection

£10,000 - sponsored by the Forward Arts Foundation

 

Seamus Heaney       Human Chain                                   Faber & Faber

 

Lachlan Mackinnon Small Hours                                       Faber & Faber

 

Sinéad Morrissey      Through the Square Window         Carcanet

 

Robin Robertson      The Wrecking Light                          Picador

 

Fiona Sampson         Rough Music                                                 Carcanet

 

Jo Shapcott              Of Mutability                                                 Faber & Faber

 

The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection

£5,000 - sponsored by Felix Dennis and the Forward Arts Foundation

 

Christian Campbell Running the Dusk                             Peepal Tree

 

Hilary Menos                         Berg                                                    Seren

 

Abegail Morley        How to Pour Madness into a Teacup Cinnamon Press

 

Helen Oswald           Learning Gravity                              Tall Lighthouse

 

Steve Spence          A Curious Shipwreck                       Shearsman Books

 

Sam Willetts               New Light for the Old Dark                        Jonathan Cape

 

The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in memory of Michael Donaghy

£1,000 - sponsored by the Forward Arts Foundation

 

Kate Bingham           On Highgate Hill                   Times Literary Supplement

 

Julia Copus               An easy passage                Magma

 

Lydia Fulleylove        Night Drive                            Bridport Prize

 

Chris Jones                Sentences                             Staple

 

Ian Pindar                  Mrs Beltinska in the Bath     National Poetry Competition

Lee Sands                  The Reach                             Times Literary Supplement

Poet and author Ruth Padel is chair of the judges of the Forward Prizes for Poetry 2010. The other judges are poet and columnist Hugo Williams, performance poet Dreadlockalien, journalist and broadcaster Alex Clark, and award-winning actress and director Fiona Shaw.

Ruth Padel comments: "It is an astonishing year for poetry, with an unusually wide range as well as high standard - from international luminaries, much-loved British voices and exciting newcomers. With very different tastes and areas of expertise, we spent eight hours reading poems aloud to each other: beautiful lyrics, prose poems, daring modernists and some very funny surrealists. It was tough, whittling a rainbow down to a shortlist, and giving up many books we really loved, which in other years would have certainly been on the shortlist. But what we have got represents the quality and brilliant variety of poetry and poetry publishing in Britain today."

William Sieghart, Chairman of the Forward Arts Foundation, comments: "A high number of submissions this year after a record-breaking 2009 suggests the continuing demand for contemporary poetry. It is an exciting year in which we see much admired poets shortlisted for the first time, as well as the return of big names. A great year also for the small presses who keep pushing poets of such a high standard".

 

The Forward Prizes were founded by William Sieghart in 1992 to raise the profile of contemporary poetry and are sponsored by The Forward Group.  Worth a total of £16,000, the Forward Prizes reward both established and up-and-coming poets.

 

The winner of the Forward Prizes will be announced on Wednesday 6 October, the eve of National Poetry Day, at a ceremony in Somerset House, London.

 

The Forward Prize for Best Collection £10,000 - sponsored by the Forward Arts Foundation

 

Seamus Heaney                  Human Chain                                   Faber & Faber

Seamus Heaney was born in 1939 in County Derry, Northern Ireland. His first collection, Death of a Naturalist, was published in 1966, and since then he has published poetry, criticism and translations. He is seen as one of the leading poets of his generation. He has twice won the Whitbread Book of the Year, for The Spirit Level (1996) and Beowulf (1999). In 1995 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and in 1996 he was made a Commandeur de L'Ordre des Arts et Lettres in 1996.  

 

For further information, please contact: Rebecca Pearson at Faber & Faber on 020 7927 3886 

 

Lachlan Mackinnon           Small Hours                                       Faber & Faber

Lachlan Mackinnon was born in Aberdeen, Scotland in 1956 and educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Oxford. He teaches English at Winchester College and reviews regularly for the Times Literary Supplement and in the national press. He has won an Eric Gregory Award (1986). His first collection of poems, Monterey Cypress, was published in 1988, followed by The Coast of Bohemia (1991) and The Jupiter Collisions (2003). He has also written two critical studies: Eliot, Auden, Lowell: Aspects of the Baudelairean Inheritance (1983) and Shakespeare the Aesthete: An Exploration of Literary Theory (1988), as well as a biography, The Lives of Elsa Triolet (1992).

 

For further information, please contact: Rebecca Pearson at Faber & Faber on 020 7927 3886 

 

Sinéad Morrissey                 Through the Square Window         Carcanet

Sinéad Morrissey was born in 1972 in Portadown, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. She has published four collections of poetry: There Was Fire in Vancouver (1996); Between Here and There (2002); The State of the Prisons (2005); and Through the Square Window (2009). Three of these collections have been shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and her latest collection won the Irish Times Poetry Now Award 2010. She was the 2002 Poetry International Writer in Residence at the Royal Festival Hall and is currently Writer in Residence at Queen's University, Belfast. In 2007 she was awarded a Lannan Literary Fellowship.

 

For further information, please contact: Eleanor Crawforth at Carcanet on 0161 834 8730

 

Robin Robertson                  The Wrecking Light                                     Picador

Robin Robertson was born in 1955 and is from the north-east coast of Scotland.  He is the author of three collections of poetry: A Painted Field (1997), winner of the 1997 Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Prize and the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award; Slow Air (2002); and Swithering (2006) which won the Forward Prize for Best Collection that year and was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize.  His translation of Euripides' Medea was published in 2008.  He lives and works in London, where he is Deputy Publishing Director at Jonathan Cape.

 

For further information, please contact: Emma Bravo at Picador on 020 7014 6184

 

Fiona Sampson                    Rough Music                                                Carcanet

Fiona Sampson was born in London in 1968. She has written fifteen books, of poetry, and on the philosophy of language and on the writing process. Her collections of poetry include Folding the Real (2001); The Distance Between Us (2005); and Common Prayer (2007), short-listed for the 2007 T. S. Eliot Prize. She was short-listed for the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) in 2006. She is founder-editor of Orient Express, a journal of contemporary writing from the EU enlargement countries (2002-05). From 1995-2000, she directed Aberystwyth International Poetry Festival. Since 2005, she has been the editor of Poetry Review. She contributes regularly to radio and to a number of publications, including The Guardian, the Irish Times and The Liberal. Fiona Sampson received a Cholmondeley Award in 2009.

 

For further information, please contact: Eleanor Crawforth at Carcanet on 0161 834 8730

 

Jo Shapcott                          Of Mutability                                                Faber & Faber

Jo Shapcott was born in London in 1953. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London, and the current President of The Poetry Society.  Her Book: Poems 1988-1998 (2000), consists of a selection of poetry from her three earlier collections: Electroplating the Baby (1988), which won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize for Best First Collection, Phrase Book (1992), and My Life Asleep (1998), which won the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection). She has also won the National Poetry Competition twice. Together with Matthew Sweeney she edited an anthology of contemporary poetry in English, but gathered from around the world, entitled Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times (1996).

 

For further information, please contact: Rebecca Pearson at Faber & Faber on 020 7927 3886 

 

The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection
£5,000 - sponsored by Felix Dennis and the Forward Arts Foundation

 

Christian Campbell                        Running the Dusk                            Peepal Tree

Christian Campbell is a poet, cultural critic and journalist. He has presented his work in the Caribbean, the US, the UK and Switzerland, and is widely published in journals and anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic. A Cave Canem Poetry Fellow and Arvon Foundation graduate, he was a member of the Bahamian National Swim Team. During his time at Oxford, he co-founded Slice( ) Mango, a collective of Oxford writers working in non-canonical traditions, which is currently preparing to find a publisher for their inaugural anthology.

 

For further information, please contact: Hannah Bannister at Peepal Tree on 0113 245 1703

 

Hilary Menos                                    Berg                                                    Seren

Hilary Menos was born in Luton in 1964. She has won or been placed in numerous competitions including the Mslexia Poetry Competition, BBC Wildlife Magazine Poet of the Year, the Buxton Poetry Competition and the Envoi Poetry Competition. She was one of five first stage winners of The Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition 2004 and her pamphlet, Extra Maths, was published by Smith/Doorstop Books. She was one of 17 poets featured in the Oxford Poets 2007 Anthology published by Carcanet. Her first collection, Berg, is published by Seren Books.

 

For further information, please contact: Simon Hicks at Seren on 01656 663 018

 

Abegail Morley                   How to Pour Madness into a Teacup Cinnamon Press

Abegail Morley was born in 1967 and grew up in Lincolnshire. After several years working in publishing, she is now a librarian. She lives in Kent where she is a member of her local Kent and Sussex Poetry Society. In 2008 she won the Cinnamon Press Poetry Collection Award and the Orbis Readers' Award. Her work appears in the anthology The Sandhopper Lover and Other Stories, as well as a wide range of magazines including The Spectator, Anon and Other Poetry.

 

For further information, please contact: Jan Fortune-Wood at Cinnamon Press on 01766 832112

 

Helen Oswald                      Learning Gravity                              Tall Lighthouse

Helen Oswald was born in 1965. She has received commendations in the Arvon International and National Poetry Competitions, as well as winning the Blue Nose Poets-of-the-year Competition. Some of these poems formed part of a collection which won second place in the Hollis Summers Poetry Prize, Ohio University Press. She lives in Brighton and works for the trade union Unison.

 

For further information, please contact: Les Robinson at Tall Lighthouse on 020 8297 8279

 

Steve Spence                       A Curious Shipwreck                      Shearsman Books

Steve Spence lives in Plymouth and helps to run The Language Club, a group which promotes live poetry events and is based at the Arts Centre. His reviews and poetry have appeared in a number of magazines, including Shearsman and The Rialto. He was assistant editor of Terrible Work magazine and in 2007 completed an MA in Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth. A Curious Shipwreck is his first collection of poetry and he is currently working on a second.

 

For further information, please contact: Tony Frazer at Shearsman Books on 01392 434511

 

Sam Willetts                          New Light for the Old Dark                        Jonathan Cape 

Sam Willetts was born in 1962. He read English at Wadham College, Oxford, and now lives in London. He has worked as a teacher, journalist and travel writer.

 

For further information, please contact: Fiona Murphy at Jonathan Cape on 020 7840 8400

The Forward Prize for Best Single Poem in memory of Michael Donaghy
£1,000 - sponsored by the Forward Arts Foundation

 

Kate Bingham                      On Highgate Hill                  Times Literary Supplement

Poet and filmmaker Kate Bingham was born in 1971 and has had two collections of poetry published by Seren, Cohabitation in 1998 and Quicksand Beach in 2006, which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection. She received an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 1996. She is also the author of two novels, Mummy's Legs and Slipstream (Virago). She lives and works in London.

 

For further information, please contact: Alan Jenkins at Times Literary Supplement on 020 7782 4970

 

Julia Copus                           An easy passage                           Magma

Julia Copus was born in London in 1969. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 1994 and in the same year published a pamphlet, Walking in the Shadows, which was also a winner in the Poetry Business competition. In 2002 she won the National Poetry Competition with her poem, Breaking the Rule. From 2005-2008, she was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Exeter University, and in January 2007, Poet in Residence at The Guardian. Her two collections of poetry, The Shuttered Eye (1995) and In Defence of Adultery (2003), were both Poetry Book Society Recommendations, and the former was shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection in 1996.

 

For further information, please contact: Laurie Smith at Magma on 020 8643 4642

 

Lydia Fulleylove                  Night Drive                                        Bridport Prize

Lydia Fulleylove writes poetry, short stories, articles and creative writing materials.

She received a Writer's Award from ACE in 2007 to work on a first poetry collection and a pamphlet is at present being considered by Happenstance Press. Her poetry and short stories have been published in a range of literary magazines and anthologies including Smiths Knoll, The Interpreter's House, Iota, Staple, Envoi and Re-writing the Map (Vane Women Press). She has also led creative writing projects for a range of healthcare groups and for young people. She was winner of the Isle of Wight Faber/Ottakar poetry competition and runner up in the national competition in 1998.

 

For further information, please contact: Frances Everitt at the Bridport Prize on 01308 428333

 

Chris Jones                           Sentences                                         Staple

Chris Jones has lived in Sheffield since 1990. He was awarded an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry in 1996. From 1997 to 1999 he worked as a writer-in-residence at Nottingham Prison. He was the Literature Officer for Leicestershire for five years before becoming a freelance writer and poetry festival organiser. He currently teaches creative writing at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2007 he published his first full-length collection, The Safe House, (Shoestring Press).

 

For further information, please contact: Wayne Burrows at Staple Magazine on 0115 9410 306

 

Ian Pindar                              Mrs Beltinska in the Bath National Poetry Competition

Ian Pindar's debut poetry collection, Emporium, will be published by Carcanet in May 2011, and his second collection, Constellations, will follow in 2012. His poems have appeared in the London Magazine, Magma, New Poetries III (Carcanet), Oxford Poetry, PN Review, Poetry Review, Stand and the Times Literary Supplement. He won second prize in the National Poetry Competition 2009 for this poem.

 

For further information, please contact: Lisa Roberts at the Poetry Society on 020 7420 9895

Lee Sands                             The Reach                             Times Literary Supplement Lee Sands has published poems in various magazines, including Critical Quarterly, Stand and Poetry Wales.

For further information, please contact: Alan Jenkins at Times Literary Supplement on 020 7782 4970

 

For further information about the prizes or to arrange an interview with any of the poets, please contact Sarah Watson or Kate Wright Morris at Colman Getty

on 020 7631 2666 or sarah@colmangetty.co.uk

 

- Ends -

 

Notes to editors:

 

1.       The Forward Prizes are one of the UK's most valuable annual prizes for poetry, with a total prize value of £16,000.  The prizes are divided into three categories: The Forward Prize for Best Collection (£10,000), The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection (£5,000) and the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem (£1,000).

 

2.       147 collections published in the UK and Ireland between 1 October 2009 and 30 September 2010 were considered for this year's Prizes.  119 poems, either published in a newspaper or magazine between 1 May 2009 and 30 April 2010, or winners of poetry prizes in the same period, were submitted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem

 

3.       Previous winners of the Forward Prizes are:

 

Best Collection: Don Paterson Rain (Faber & Faber) 2009, Mick Imlah The Lost Leader (Faber & Faber) 2008,  Sean O'Brien The Drowned Book (Picador) 2007, Robin Robertson Swithering (Jonathan Cape) 2006, David Harsent Legion (Faber & Faber) 2005, Kathleen Jamie The Tree House (Picador) 2004, Ciaran Carson Breaking News (Gallery Press) 2003, Peter Porter Max is Missing (Picador) 2002, Sean O'Brien Downriver (Picador) 2001, Michael Donaghy Conjure (Picador) 2000, Jo Shapcott My Life Asleep (OUP) 1999, Ted Hughes Birthday Letters (Faber & Faber) 1998, Jamie McKendrick The Marble Fly (OUP) 1997, John Fuller Stones and Fires (Chatto) 1996, Sean O'Brien Ghost Train (OUP) 1995, Alan Jenkins Harm (Chatto) 1994, Carol Ann Duffy Mean Time (Anvil Press)1993 and Thom Gunn The Man with Night Sweats (Faber & Faber) 1992

 

Best First Collection: Emma Jones The Striped World (Faber & Faber) 2009, Kathryn Simmons Sunday at the Skin Launderette (Seren) 2008, Daljit Nagra Look We Have Coming To Dover (Faber & Faber) 2007, Tishani Doshi Countries of the Body (Aark Arts) 2006, Helen Farish Intimates (Jonathan Cape) 2005, Leontia Flynn These Days (Jonathan Cape) 2004, A.B. Jackson Fire Stations (Anvil Press) 2003, Tom French Touching the Bones (Gallery Press) 2002, John Stammers Panoramic Lounge-bar (Picador) 2001, Andrew Waterhouse In (The Rialto) 2000, Nick Drake The Man in the White Suit (Bloodaxe) 1999, Paul Farley The Boy from the Chemist is Here to See You (Picador) 1998, Robin Robertson A Painted Field (Picador) 1997, Kate Clanchy Slattern (Chatto) 1996, Jane Duran Breathe Now, Breathe (Enitharmon) 1995, Kwame Dawes Progeny of Air (Peepal Tree) 1994, Don Paterson Nil Nil (Faber & Faber) 1993 and Simon Armitage Kid (Faber & Faber) 1992

 

Best Single Poem: Robin Robertson At Roane Head (London Review of Books) 2009, Don Paterson Love Poem For Natalie 'Tusja' Beridze (Poetry Review) 2008, Alice Oswald Dunt (Poetry London), 2007, Sean O'Brien Fantasia on a Theme of James Wright (Poetry Review) 2006, Paul Farley Liverpool Disappears for a Billionth of a Second (The North) 2005, Daljit Nagra Look We Have Coming to Dover (Poetry Review) 2004, Robert Minhinnick The Fox in the Museum of Wales (Poetry London) 2003, Medbh McGuckian (2002), Ian Duhig (2001), Tessa Biddington (2000), Robert Minhinnick (1999), Sheenagh Pugh (1998), Lavinia Greenlaw (1997), Kathleen Jamie (1996), Jenny Joseph (1995), Iain Crichton Smith (1994), Vicki Feaver (1993) and Jackie Kay (1992)

 

4.       Chair of judges, Ruth Padel, and the short-listed poets may be available for interview on request. Photographs and further information on the poets is available from the individual publicists listed above

 

5.       William Sieghart, Chairman of the Forward Arts Foundation, is the founder of National Poetry Day and the Forward Prizes.  He is available for interview through Colman Getty

 

6.       The Forward Arts Foundation operates from Forward, one of the UK's leading customer publishing agencies. Forward creates beautifully crafted, highly targeted customer communications for clients such as Patek Philippe, Bang & Olufsen, Tesco, Ford, Standard Life, Transport for London and Barclays.

Forward's bespoke magazines, websites, ezines and emails are produced in 38 languages and reach customers in 172 countries. For more information please visit www.theforwardgroup.com

 

7.       The Forward Arts Foundation is the primary sponsor of the Forward Prizes for Poetry and is behind National Poetry Day and Big Arts Week

 

8.       Copies of the short-listed books and the single poems are available on request from Colman Getty

 

 

• Half of north Londoners never cross the river for work or play
• North London seen as more culturally rich but South Londoners have more eclectic cultural interests
• The Mayor of London Boris Johnson urges Londoners to cross the great divide

 

54% of Londoners living north of the River Thames never venture south for either work or cultural pursuits and south Londoners are twice as likely to cross the river for culture. That's according to a survey of 300 Londoners from both sides of the river published today (23 July) by CultureLine, a partnership of 10 museums and galleries along the new London Overground East London route.

 

More than 60% of those surveyed said north Londoners are bigger culture vultures than their southern counterparts and, even when the cultural attractions of central London were excluded, the same number of people felt north London had more to offer in terms of culture.

 

However, the survey found that south Londoners may in fact have more eclectic and adventurous cultural tastes. 55% of north Londoners rated eating out as one of their top three interests, followed by visual arts and popular music. While eating out and visual arts also ranked highly for South Londoners (47% and 38% rated these as top three interests), they were also more likely to enjoy the capital's performing arts, heritage, classical music and markets.

 

80% of south Londoners cross the river at least once a month for cultural pursuits compared to just 41% of Northerners. 48% of north Londoners visit the south of the capital for culture less than once a month and 7% never do this. Both north and south Londoners, however, are more likely to cross the river to visit cultural attractions with the recent opening of the London Overground East London route which connects Dalston, Hoxton and Shoreditch in the north with New Cross, Forest Hill and West Croydon in the south. 85% of southerners and 78% of northerners said they would consider using the line to visit museums and galleries on the other side of the capital.

 

When asked which of London's tube and rail lines they most associated with culture, Londoners rated the District, Piccadilly and Circle lines - which pass by attractions such as the British Museum, the Royal Academy and the V&A - most highly. The new London Overground East London route, which opened in May and passes near venues such as the Geffrye Museum, Whitechapel Gallery and Horniman Museum, was ranked fourth. The Northern line was the line most associated with work.

 

The Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "North or south, I urge Londoners to cross the great divide and discover the rich cultural treasures, cuisines and dialects to be found on the other side of the river. London Overground is opening up the capital like never before, making it even easier to get to know our trans-Thames neighbours and discover the gems of the city."

 

Janet Vitmayer, Chief Executive of the Horniman Museum and CultureLine spokeswoman, said: "It seems from our survey that some of the old north/south London prejudices are alive and well and that they even extend to our enjoyment of culture in the capital. It is high time these perceptions are challenged and we are inviting all Londoners to try a 'culture swap' this summer and cross the river to visit new places and cultural attractions. With the opening of the London Overground line from Dalston to Croydon this has never been easier."

 

Londoners will be able to enjoy a weekend of discovery along the CultureLine from 6-8 August when the 10 museums and galleries involved will be throwing open their doors for a three-day extravaganza of special events. These include a talk on the Alice Neel: Painted Truths exhibition at the Whitechapel Gallery, Africa Live! - a day of African culture at the Horniman Museum, a day of garden games from Victorian times to the present day at the Geffrye Museum, a Thames Tunnel Fancy Fair at the Brunel Museum, and a guided tour at the Crystal Palace Museum. 

 

There are thousands of fascinating objects in the 10 museums including the Igbo Ijele - Africa's largest mask, George Washington's false teeth, and a reconstruction of an East End eel, pie and mash shop.

 

Visit www.cultureline.org.uk for more information.

 

For more press information please contact: Anya Matthews or Katy MacMillan-Scott at Colman Getty, 020 7631 2666 / 07815 634396 anya@colmangetty.co.uk  katy@colmangetty.co.uk

 

Notes to editors

 

• The CultureLine survey was carried out on www.cultureline.org.uk between 24 June and 12 July 2010. 300 Londoners took part - 45% were from North London, 55% were from South London.

 

• Images and further information are available through Colman Getty

 

• Spokespeople for CultureLine are: Janet Vitmayer, Director of the Horniman Museum and David Dewing, Director and Christine Lalumia, Deputy Director, of the Geffrye Museum. To arrange an interview, please contact Colman Getty

 

• The 10 CultureLine museums and their respective East London Line stations are:

1. Hackney Museum - Dalston Junction Station
2. Geffrye Museum - Hoxton Station
3. Wesley's Chapel - Shoreditch High Street Station
4. The Royal London Hospital Museum - Whitechapel Station
5. Whitechapel Gallery - Whitechapel Station
6. The Women's Library - Whitechapel Station
7. Brunel Museum - Rotherhithe Station
8. Horniman Museum - Forest Hill Station
9. Crystal Palace Museum - Crystal Palace Station
10. Museum of Croydon - West Croydon Station

 

The Estorick Art Gallery will become the eleventh museum to join CultureLine in 2011, when the East London Line reaches Highbury & Islington

 

• CultureLine is funded by the London Museums Hub. The London Museums Hub is one of nine regional Hubs tasked with developing innovative and accessible museum services in their regions. Funded by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), the London Museums Hub invests in and supports the 230 or so non-national museums in the London region.

 

The London Museums Hub is led by a partnership of some of the region's flagship museums; the Museum of London, Geffrye Museum, Horniman Museum and London Transport Museum.

 

• About Renaissance London

Renaissance London is a partnership of four museum services working closely with the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council to deliver the Renaissance in the Regions programme of investment in England's regional museums. 

 

Renaissance London works to invest in and transform the 250 or so non-national museums in London.   This is done through providing a comprehensive service to schools, supporting a range of projects designed to demonstrate how museum collections are vital in communities, improving the regions collections and expanding the diversity of collections.  Renaissance London is also engaged in building and engaging new audiences and is leading on London's Stories of the World project, which is part of the Cultural Olympiad for London 2012. 

 

www.mla.gov.uk/renaissancelondon  

www.untoldlondon.org.uk

www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk

 

• Transport for London: London Overground's new East London route

The new route is a crucial part of the London Overground orbital network and in London's overall integrated transport infrastructure

The route will provide a turn up and go, metro-style service of up to 12 trains an hour to parts of London traditionally poorly served by rail services

The new section of London Overground will bring a much-needed alternative mode of north-south transport to eastern London

The new East London route is part of the London Overground network and run from Dalston Junction in the north to New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon in the south. By next Spring it will connect in the north with the existing London Overground network at Highbury & Islington

The northern section of London Overground's new East London route  is already open and has brought four new stations to Hackney - Dalston Junction, Haggerston, Hoxton and Shoreditch High Street -  putting the borough firmly on the Tube map

It is predicted that in 2011, 33m people will use the new route (approx 100,000 per day) and demand is forecast to increase to 40m in 2016 (approx 120,000 per day). The former East London Tube line, prior to its closure,  carried approximately 9m passengers every year (approx 30,000 per day)

Examples of journey times on the new line are Dalston Junction to West Croydon - 47 minutes; to Crystal Palace - 37 minutes. Shoreditch High Street station to Brockley - 16 minutes; Honor Oak - 19 mins; Forest Hill - 22 minutes; Sydenham - 24 minutes

• Over one-third work while on holiday, with one in ten going into the office, ILM research reveals
• 40 % feel more stressed when they return from leave

 

Summer holidays are supposed to give busy workers time away from the office to switch off and unwind, however new research out today (21 July) from the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) reveals that over one-third work while on annual leave, while 40% return to work feeling more stressed than when they left.

 

The survey of almost 2,500 UK managers shows that out of those who work while on leave, 80% frequently respond to emails, almost half take phone calls and one in ten even go into the office. Blackberries and Smartphones are the main culprits for holiday work, over two-thirds of respondents admit to checking them at least once a day, if not more.

 

"Gone are the days when people cut off contact with work for a fortnight over the summer and made a complete break," said Penny de Valk, Chief Executive of the Institute of Leadership & Management. "While technology means that it is easier than ever to work remotely, it also makes it extremely hard to switch off. Uncertain economic times also mean that many UK employers are keeping one eye on their job at all times, when what they really need is time away from the office to rest and re-energise."

 

Worryingly the survey also reveals that when employees go on leave, the stresses and strains of work do not disappear quickly, with half of the respondents admitting that it takes them at least two days to start to unwind, and one in ten saying that they need a week or more to fully relax.

 

The research results also suggest that holidays are not really hitting the spot when it comes to relieving stress, with 40% of workers feeling more anxious when returning to work than before they went. Overflowing inboxes are a key factor, with 90% saying that they come back to a deluge of emails.

 

De Valk added:  "It is a real concern that so many employees return to the office after annual leave feeling more stressed than when they left. This anxiety is almost certainly due to the high workloads we anticipate returning to, and the fear of what might be waiting for us when we get back.

 

"Everyone needs a decent break from time-to-time to recharge and regain a fresh perspective on life and work."

 

ILM's five top tips for cutting down holiday stress levels:

• Plan for your absence - don't throw together holiday notes at the last minute; start putting together a comprehensive handover a week or two before you leave, giving colleagues clear guidelines on tasks they need to complete
• Set up an automatic email filing system so that non-urgent messages go into a separate folder and can be checked at a later date
• Make sure that you tell key contacts you will be away - this will cut down on the number of messages you are sent in your absence
• Limit your contact with the office - if you do have to check emails only do so once or twice a day and switch off your computer or Blackberry in between
• Do not open your email account straight away upon your return - update meetings with team members might be a better alternative and save you trawling through emails
  
  

Ends/..

 

For further information and interviews please contact:

Rebecca Griffiths or Ellie Backhouse at Colman Getty on 020 7631 2666

rebeccagriffiths@colmangetty.co.uk/ ellie@colmangetty.co.uk

 

Notes to editors:

 

The Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM) is Europe's leading management organisation. We believe that good leadership and management holds the key to organisational effectiveness and social and economic prosperity.

 

Our fast-growing community of over 30,000 practising leaders and managers, gives us a real insight into the issues affecting the management community day-to-day, both in the UK and globally.

 

Each year we help over 85,000 practising and aspiring managers to fulfil their potential and achieve success through a range of flexible leadership and management development solutions.

 

Backed by an in depth programme of research, ILM operates internationally, improving leadership and management skills, across all sectors, from financial services to the armed forces.

 

Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM)

www.i-l-m.com

 

 

About the research

 

The online survey was conducted and analysed by ILM using Survey Monkey, during July 2010, amongst ILM's 30,000+ membership.

 

Some 2,426 respondents completed the survey, all of them practising managers.

 

David Mach, famed for his dynamic large scale collages, sculptures and bold installations, today launches his major new project to celebrate the 400^th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011 with the installation of a massive coathanger crucifixion figure, suspended from steel supports, outside St Giles Church in Edinburgh.

 

David Mach Crucifixion in front of St Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh

 

This is the first of four coat hanger crucifixion figures, including a contemporary sculptural version of Calvary, which will be displayed in the exhibition at Edinburgh's City Art Centre in the summer of 2011.

 

Central to the project will be a large-scale limited edition artist's version of the King James Bible. Various elements from the project - collages and coathanger sculptures -will be on show throughout the UK in the coming year.

 

An array of David's large scale collages will also be on display.  Cinematic in scale, the collages will bring a contemporary dimension to biblical stories such as The Flood, Crossing the Red Sea, Jesus' miracles and the epic visions of St John. 

 

The first collage in the project, Tower of Babel, is currently on display in The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition, 14 June-22 August.

 

Further opportunities to see elements of the project during the year include:  in the autumn a collage at St Paul's Cathedral and a crucifixion sculpture at Gloucester Cathedral; also under negotiation is a major exhibition of the crucifixions at Torre Abbey, Torbay at Easter.

 

David Mach comments:

'I like the expression "The Bible Is The Word" - to me its all about communication. The King James Bible communicated its message so effectively that its language still resonates through our speech to this day. Today we live in an age of sophisticated mass communication - satellites, computers, and live TV links - and yet we still have wars, famine and bigotry. To me that represents a failure of communication.

 

'The King James Bible holds as pertinent a mirror up to our human failings as it did when it was first published 400 years ago. The richness, devastation and pestilence of biblical imagery is as fine a subject as I could wish for to explore the hypocrisies of the contemporary world.'

 

Councillor Deidre Brock, Culture and Leisure Convenor for the City of Edinburgh Council, says:

"I am delighted Edinburgh's City Art Centre will be hosting such a prestigious exhibition to mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible in 2011. David Mach is an extraordinarily talented, internationally renowned artist and the City is proud to own three of his works, including his very striking portrait of the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Our curators have already been working very closely with David to create what promises to be a superb exhibition which is certain to draw huge crowds to the City Art Centre next summer." 

 

Ends

 

To interview David Mach or for further information, please contact:

Truda Spruyt, Kate Wright-Morris or Matt Railton at Colman Getty on

020 7631 2666 or Truda@colmangetty.co.uk / kate@colmangetty.co.uk

 

Notes to editors

 

• David Mach RA, aged 54, is one of the UK's most successful and respected artists, known for his dynamic and imaginative large scale collages, sculptures and installations using diverse media, including coat hangers, matchstick heads and magazines.  Mach completed his MA at the Royal College of Art; he became a Royal Academician in 1998 and in 2000 was appointed Professor of Sculpture at the Royal Academy Schools. In 2006 he became a Trustee of the National Portrait Gallery

 

• The Kings James Bible is the popular name for the first version of the Bible published on a mass scale 400 years ago.  In 1611, 50 of the most learned scholars in Britain, after years of study, compiled and published the very first version of the Bible on a mass scale.  That year large, 16 inch pulpit bibles were printed and sent to every church in England. Shortly afterwards, the production of smaller Bibles began - and for the very first time, everyone could have their own copy of the Holy Scriptures

 

• 400 years on, and to commemorate this significant anniversary, Edinburgh's City Art Centre have joined forces with Scottish artist David Mach to create a major exhibition for the summer of 2011. Over three years in the planning, the exhibition will include a vast array of David's collages and sculptures, and will open in July 2011

 

• A coathanger sculpture of a gorilla, Silver Streak, and a  collage, Babel Towers, is currently on show at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, closing 22 August www.royalacademy.org.uk

 

• Another collage from the project will be on display at St Paul's Cathedral, in the exhibition St Paul's in the 21^st Century, 21 September-15 October www.stpauls.co.uk/News-Press/Latest-News/Art-exhibition-at-St-Pauls

 

• A crucifixion sculpture will appear at Crucible, Gallery Pangolin's exhibition at Gloucester Cathedral, 1 September-31 October www.crucible2010.co.uk

 

• An exhibition of crucifixion sculptures at Torre Abbey, Torbay at Easter 2011 is under discussion which will show three crucified figures, representing Christ and the thieves who were crucified with him,  dominate the space standing 35ft tall www.torre-abbey.org.uk

 

 

 

Booking now open for a packed week of arts and current affairs events

 

INSIDE OUT FESTIVAL 2010

In association with New Statesman

Monday 25 - Sunday 31 October 2010

www.insideoutfestival.org.uk

 

The Inside Out Festival is set to return this October in association with New Statesman with an even bigger and better programme of talks, debates, exhibitions and performances.

 

The popular annual event celebrates the exciting and often unexpected contribution made by London universities to the cultural life of the capital. This year festival-goers will be able to hear from some of the most inspiring and experimental thinkers, writers and artists of the day and get creative themselves.

 

Goldsmith's, Birkbeck, Central St Martin's, the London College of Fashion, the Courtauld Institute of Art and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama are amongst the nine university institutions throwing open their doors for the week of public events which will include film screenings, music and theatre performances, art and fashion exhibitions, and talks with well-known academics and high-profile commentators. The events will take place all over London at cultural venues such as the Barbican, the National Portrait Gallery and Somerset House, and in rarely-seen spaces in the universities.

 

Sally Taylor, Inside Out Festival Director, said: "There is certainly no shortage of festivals in London but this is an arts festival with a distinct twist. The sheer breadth of talent in the nine universities involved is staggering. We want as many people as possible to come and enjoy the fruits of this talent and passion in October. From the art of Cézanne to the art of war, from the abuses of contemporary history to the history of men's underwear, this year's Inside Out Festival will be a feast - a cultural 'pick and mix' - for bright thinkers and art lovers, young and old."

 

Jason Cowley, Editor of New Statesman, said: "We are delighted to be associated with Inside Out. As a magazine, we like to look beyond the obvious and seek out the unusual, the witty, the irreverent and the thought-provoking. In this festival we have found all of these things and more." 

 

Festival highlights will include:

 

• A debate on New Labour Literature with author and academic Blake Morrison, novelist and columnist Will Self and Robert Hampson, Professor of Modern Literature at Royal Holloway. Chaired by Jason Cowley.
• The Art of War - a panel discussion on war as entertainment led by Iain Burnside, Guildhall School academic, pianist and Sony-Award-winning radio presenter, drawing on his current theatre piece Lads in Their Hundreds. With human rights barrister Philippe Sands QC
• An exhibition of Japanese fashion at the Barbican Art Gallery including a talk with experts from the University of the Arts London
• A debate on the uses and abuses of contemporary history with historian and former journalist Peter Hennessy, Tessa Jowell MP and constitutional expert Vernon Bogdanor

• The launch of a new history of men's underwear by Shaun Cole, principal lecturer in history and culture at the London College of Fashion
• A Q&A with Harvey Cohen of King's College London on his new book Duke Ellington's America followed by music from the Guildhall Jazz Band

• Exclusive late viewing of the Courtauld Gallery's landmark Autumn exhibition of portraits by Paul Cézanne
• Publishing a first novel - an opportunity to hear from recently published authors Penny Rudge and Kristan Hawkins, literary agents Judith Murray and Caroline Wood and tutors from City University's highly successful Certificate in Novel Writing, as well as an opportunity to compete to have your work read by a literary agent
• A London film history walk led by expert Professor Ian Christie followed by  an illustrated lecture at Birkbeck's state-of-the-art cinema in Bloomsbury 
• Creative writing workshops led by academics and writers from Birkbeck
• Minute Maestro - a conducting masterclass, following which participants have the opportunity to conduct a string quartet

 

The Festival will open on 25 October with a high-profile panel debate - 'Should the university continue to exist in its current form?' - at the University of London Senate House.

 

Booking for the Inside Out Festival is now open at www.insideoutfestival.org.uk More events will be confirmed over the summer.

 

[ENDS]

 

For more information, interviews or press passes to the Festival, please contact: Anya Matthews or Rachel Duffield at Colman Getty 0207 631 2666 anya@colmangetty.co.uk / rachel@colmangetty.co.uk

 

NOTES TO EDITORS:

 

The Inside Out Festival takes place across London from 25 - 31 October 2010.

For more information or to book events, visit www.insideoutfestival.org.uk

For the latest updates, follow @LCACE1 on Twitter

The Inside Out Festival 2010 is in association with New Statesman with support from Times Higher Education.

New Statesman is Britain's leading current affairs and politics magazine www.newstatesman.com

 

The Inside Out Festival is run by the London Centre for Arts and Exchange (LCACE). LCACE is a university initiative promoting the exchange of knowledge and expertise with the capital's arts and cultural sectors. The nine institutions involved are:

 

• University of the Arts London
• Birkbeck, University of London
• City University London
• Courtauld Institute of Art
• Goldsmiths, University of London
• Guildhall School of Music & Drama
• King's College London
• Queen Mary, University of London
• Royal Holloway, University of London