| Carol Ann Duffy |
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WORKS In her first collection ''Standing Female Nude'' (1985) she often uses the voices of outsiders while ''Selling Manhattan'' (1987) contains more personal verse. Her later collections are ''The Other Country'' (1990) and ''Mean Time'' (1993). ''The World's Wife'' (1999) saw her retelling famous stories and fables - Midas , King Kong , Elvis - as wry and exuberant ' Feminist ' documents from the point of view of real or imagined women. Although ''The World's Wife'' is presented in this way, it is said to be her most autobiographical collection of poems. 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 most recent publication ''Rapture'' (2005) is a series of intimate poems charting the course of a love affair. She is perhaps one of the few poets in the UK to combine academic integrity with accessibility and popularity. Many UK teenagers read her work, as they learn her poetry as part of their English Literature exams. Her children's collections include ''Meeting Midnight'' (1999) and ''The Oldest Girl in the World'' (2000). AWARDS
POET LAUREATE CONTROVERSY Carol Ann Duffy was almost appointed the British Poet Laureate in 1999 (after the death of previous Laureate Ted Hughes ), but lost out on the position to Andrew Motion . According to the '' Sunday Times '', Downing Street sources stated unofficially that Prime Minister Tony Blair was 'worried about having a Homosexual poet laureate because of how it might play in Middle England '. Duffy later claimed that she would not have accepted the laureateship anyway, saying in an interview with the '' Guardian '' newspaper that 'I will not write a poem for Edward and Sophie . No self-respecting poet should have to.' She says she regards Andrew Motion as a friend and that the idea of a contest between her and him for the post was entirely invented by the newspapers. EXTERNAL LINKS
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