SHAPCOTT, Jo 1958(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born March 24, 1958 (some sources cite 1953), in London, England; daughter of Frank William Gordon (in business) and Josephine (a teacher; maiden name, Cann) Shapcott. Education: Trinity College (Dublin, Ireland), B.A. (with first class honors), 1976, further study, 1976-79; attended Dublin College of Music, 1974-76; St. Hilda's College, Oxford, B.A., 1978; attended Harvard University, 1978-80; University of Bristol, diploma in adult and community education (with distinction), 1984. Politics: "Yes." Religion: "No."

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of English Literary and Linguistic Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 7RU, England; fax: +44 (0) 191 222 8708. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Poet. English teacher at a secondary school in Exmouth, England, 1981-84; Arts Council, London, England, education officer, 1984-86, acting senior education officer, 1986; South Bank Centre, London, education officer, 1986-91; University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne, England, visiting professor of poetry. Cambridge University, Judith E. Wilson senior visiting fellow in creative writing at Pembroke College, 1991; British Library, writers fellow; creative writing teacher for Arvon Foundation and Poetry Society; traveling guest speaker in England and abroad; guest on media programs in England.

MEMBER:

Royal Society of Literature (fellow), Royal Society of Arts (fellow), Poetry Book Society (member of board of directors, beginning 1990).

AWARDS, HONORS:

Harkness fellow, 1978-80; South West Arts Literature Award, 1982; first prize, National Poetry Competition, 1985, for "The Surrealists' Summer Convention Came to Our City," and 1991, for "Phrase Book"; Commonwealth Prize, 1989, for Electroplating the Baby; Prudence Farmer Award, New Statesman, 1989.

WRITINGS:

Electroplating the Baby (poetry), Bloodaxe Books (Newcastle upon Tyne, England), 1988.

Phrase Book (poetry), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1992.

Motherland, Gwaithel & Gilwern, 1996.

(Editor, with Matthew Sweeney) Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times, Faber & Faber (London, England), 1996.

My Life Asleep (poetry), Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1998.

(Editor, with Don Paterson) Last Words, Picador (London, England), 1999.

Her Book (poetry), Faber & Faber (London, England), 2000.

Tender Taxes, Faber & Faber (London, England), 2001.

(Editor, with Linda Anderson) Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, Bloodaxe Books (Highgreen, Tarset, Northumberland, England), 2002.

Lyricist, La Cantarina; librettist, The Interruption at the Opera. Work represented in anthologies, including New Poetry 9, Hutchinson (London, England), 1983; New Chatto Poets, Chatto & Windus (London, England), 1986; Poetry Book Society Anthology, 1989; and Penguin Modern Poets 12, Penguin (New York, NY), 1997. Contributor of poetry to periodicals, including New Statesman and Poetry Review.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Antioch Review, spring, 1997, Jane Satterfield, "Pavlova's Physics: The Poems of Jo Shapcott," p. 213.

New Statesman, March 13, 2000, Lavinia Greenlaw, review of Her Book, p. 58.

New Statesman and Society, December 4, 1992, review of Phrase Book, p. 40.

Observer, January 3, 1993, review of Phrase Book, p. 36; October 27, 1996, review of Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times, p. 15.

Southern Review, spring, 1994, review of Electroplating the Baby, p. 393.

Stand, spring, 1993, review of Phrase Book, p. 66.

Times Educational Supplement, October 18, 1996, review of Emergency Kit, p. 7.

Times Literary Supplement, June 9, 1989, p. 641; November 20, 1992, review of Phrase Book, p. 27; March 14, 1997, review of Emergency Kit, p. 23; July 23, 1999, review of My Life Asleep, p. 24; February 1, 2002, Iain Bamforth, review of Tender Taxes, p. 12; April-June, 2003, George Monteiro, review of Elizabeth Bishop: Poet of the Periphery, p. 107.*