Beth Davies is a winner of the international New Poets Prize 2022!

We are delighted for Hive young poet Beth Davies who is a winner of the international New Poets Prize 2022 – for her debut pamphlet ‘The Pretense of Understand’.Beth started out in the network as a member of Sheffield Young Writers where she began to develop her love for poetry. It’s been so lovely to see Beth grow over the years and we know this is the beginning of a long, exciting adventure for her as a published poet. Congratulations also to fellow winners: Tom Branfoot, Serena Alagappan and Chloe Elliott. 

Anthony Anaxagorou said of Beth’s collection, The Pretense of Understanding – A beautifully strange and encoded book. I was particularly drawn to the tensions made between a place and a self – the longing to connect while remaining cautious as to what that connection asked for.

Being awarded a New Poets Prize offers Beth the wonderful prize of pamphlet publication with The Poetry Business alongside three other winners, as well as publication in The North and a launch reading. The four winning pamphlets will be published in June 2023 under the New Poets List – an imprint of The Poetry Business.

We want to say a massive thank you to The Poetry Business for supporting early-career writers so young, and offering this wonderful opportunity to move on to publication. Beth joins recent Hive New Poet Prize winners: Safia Khan (2021) Georgie Woodhead, Lauren Hollingsworth Smith (2020) and Warda Yassin (2018). This year’s judge was Anthony Anaxagorou.

Beth Davies (she/her) is an emerging poet based in Sheffield. Her poetry has been published in Poetry Wales, Atrium, Rust + Moth, and Pulp Poets Press, as well as in anthologies such as Candlestick Press’ Ten Poems about Flowers and Valley Press’ Verse Matters. She won second place in the 2021 Dead Cat Poetry Prize and in the 2022 Magdalena Young Poets Prize. In addition to being a member of Hive Poetry Collective, Beth is a graduate of The Writing Squad, Durham University Slam Team, and Sheffield Young Writers. More information about her work can be found at bethdaviespoet.wordpress.com or by following @BethRSD on Twitter.