TS Eliot Prize 2018 shortlist revealed: Nick Laird on the list alongside five debuts

The TS Eliot Prize shortlist has been announced, celebrating the very best poetry published around the world this year.

Five debut collections feature on the shortlist, selected by judges Sinead Morrissey, Daljit Nagra and Clare Pollard, whilst the ten-strong list has a 50:50 gender-split.

Making the list for their first collections are Zaffar Kunial for Us, Fiona Moore for The Distal Point, Phoebe Power for Shrines of Upper Austria, Richard Scott's Soho and Hannah Sullivan for Three Poems.

The shortlist also includes Nick Laird, who is married to Zadie Smith, for his collection Feel Free, and Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy K Smith. Ailbhe Darcy, Terrance Hayes and Sean O’Brien make up the rest of the shortlist.

Morrissey, who is chair of this year’s judging panel and a previous winner of the prize, said this year's shortlist offered “invigorated language, confident mastery of form, and fresh, sophisticated perspectives on our uncertain times.”

This year saw record submissions for the prize, with 176 collections entered by publishers. The prize sees one poet win £25,000, and each shortlisted poet receive £1,500, courtesy of the TS Eliot Foundation.

Each year the shortlisted poets read selections from their shortlisted works in a special event at the Southbank Centre, hosted by Ian McMillan. This year’s event takes place on January 13, with the winner announced the following day on January 14.

Ocean Vuong won the prize last year for his collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds.

The TS Eliot Prize 2018 shortlist in full:

Ailbhe Darcy, Insistence (published by Bloodaxe)

Terrance Hayes, American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassins (published by Penguin)

Zaffar Kunial, Us (published by Faber & Faber)

Nick Laird, Feel Free (published by Faber & Faber)

Fiona Moore, The Distal Point (published by Happenstance)

Sean O’Brien, Europa (published by Picador)

Phoebe Power, Shrines of Upper Austria (published by Carcanet)

Richard Scott, Soho (published by Faber & Faber)

Tracy K Smith, Wade in the Water (published by Penguin)

Hannah Sullivan, Three Poems (published by Faber & Faber