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Kate Clanchy MBE (born 1965) is a British poet, freelance writer and teacher.
Kate Clanchy | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1965 (age 58–59) Glasgow, Scotland |
| Education | George Watson's College |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford |
| Occupation(s) | Poet, teacher, writer |
| Parent(s) | Michael Clanchy Joan Clanchy |
| Awards | Eric Gregory Award Forward Poetry Prize Scottish First Book of the Year BBC National Short Story Prize Orwell Prize for Political Writing |
She was born in 1965 in Glasgow to medieval historian Michael Clanchy and teacher Joan Clanchy (née Milne)[1][2] She was educated at George Watson's College, a private school in Edinburgh and at the University of Oxford, where she studied English.[3]
She lived in the East End of London for several years, before moving to Oxford where she was a fellow of Oxford Brookes University and served as City Poet.[4] She is Writer in Residence for Sanctuary Arts[5] at Mansfield College, Oxford.
In 2021 she wrote an essay about the deaths of both her parents from COVID-19.[6]
Teaching
Clanchy qualified as a teacher in 1989 and has taught since in several different institutions. Her memoir of her teaching experience,Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me won the Orwell Prize for Political Writing in 2020.[7]
From 2009-2019 she combined employment as a teacher and a role as Writer in Residence at Oxford Spires Academy, a multicultural comprehensive school. Noted students included Mukahang Limbu,[8] Shukria Rezaei,[9] and Amineh Abou Kerech.[10] In 2018 she edited an anthology of poems written by her students, England: Poems from a School, which was widely reviewed.[11][12] Over the lockdown period of 2020 Clanchy met on Zoom with her students and published their poems on Twitter where they became popular.[13][14] In 2021 she published a self-help guide to writing poetry, How to Grow Your Own Poem.
Literary work
Clanchy won an Eric Gregory Award in 1995.[15] She published three poetry collections between 1996 and 2004. They won a Forward Prize,[16] the Scottish First Book of the Year (then Saltire Prize) two Scottish Arts Council Book Awards, and a Somerset Maugham Award.[17] In 2008, she moved into non fiction with a memoir about her relationship with her Kosovan neighbour. What is She Doing Here? This was republished as Antigona and Me and won the Writers Guild Award.[18] In 2009 she won both the VS Pritchett and BBC National Short Story Award.[19] This was followed by a novel, Meeting the English,[20] which was shortlisted for the Costa Prize, and a collection of short stories, The Not Dead and the Saved.[21] Clanchy has written and adapted for BBC Radio since 2001 with 12 plays and serials produced, notably Hester, A Little Princess,[22] which starred Adjoa Andoh and Enduring Love. In 2015 her broadcast anthology of her pupils' work, We Are Writing a Poem About Home,[23] was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award.[24] In 2018 she was awarded a Cholmondeley Award.[25] Other work includes:
- Samarkand. Picador. 1999. ISBN 978-0-330-37194-0.
- Slattern. Picador. 2001. ISBN 978-0-330-48929-4. 1st edition Chatto & Windus, 1995
- All The Poems You Need To Say Hello. Picador. 2004. ISBN 978-0-330-43384-6. (editor)
- Our Cat Henry Comes to the Swings. illustrated Jemima Bird. Oxford University Press. 2005. ISBN 978-0-19-272557-8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link) - Newborn. Macmillan UK. 2006. ISBN 978-0-330-41931-4. 1st edition Picador, 2004
- What Is She Doing Here?: A Refugee's Story. Picador. 2008. ISBN 978-0-330-44382-1.
- Antigona and Me. Picador. 2009. ISBN 978-0-330-44933-5.
- Meeting the English. Picador. 2013. ISBN 978-0-330-53527-4.
- The Not Dead and the Saved 2015. ISBN 978-0330535250.
- England, Poems from a School. Picador. 3 December 2023. ISBN 978-1509886609.
- Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me. Picador. 2019. ISBN 978-1-5098-4029-8.
- How to Grow Your Own Poem. Picador. 2020. ISBN 978-1-5290-2469-2.
Controversy
In 2021, Clanchy posted on Twitter encouraging followers to report a Goodreads review of Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me, stating that they had "made up a racist quote and said it was in my book".[26] In a response published in The Guardian, Monisha Rajesh argued that although the exact quotes in question were not present, similar offensive stereotypes were present throughout the book.[27]
Clanchy was criticised by other authors, including Chimene Suleyman, Monisha Rajesh and Sunny Singh, who received large amounts of abuse in the following months.[28][27][29] An open letter signed by over 950 people from the publishing industry condemned the targeted harassment.[30] Clanchy's publishers, Picador, an imprint of Macmillan Publishing, issued three statements of apology in August 2021 and stated that the books would be rewritten.[27][26] Further statements of apology were made following an interview[31] with Philip Gwyn Jones, Publisher of Picador, in the Daily Telegraph in December 2021.[32]
Clanchy was defended in articles by Sonia Sodha, who stated that 'the strand of anti-racist thinking that is obsessed with the blame and shame all white people should bear for structural discrimination is (so) corrosive to common cause and understanding'[33] and by Clive Davis,[34] Tomiwa Owolade,[35] Shukria Rezaei,[36] Carmen Callil[37] Amanda Craig and Philip Pullman. A group of her former students wrote that they had experienced no safeguarding issues and were 'disempowered and distressed' by the critics' allegations.[38]
In December 2021, Clanchy published an article in Prospect magazine on the personal impact of public cancellation.[39] Consequently, her publisher Picador announced they would no longer publish her books.[29] In an interview for UnHerd, Clanchy said that the apology put out by Pan Macmillan had been made "over her head" and without consulting her.[40] She subsequently wrote an article on sensitivity readers,[41] which continued to be discussed in the following years.[42][43][44][45] especially in the context of the Roald Dahl revision controversy. Clanchy is now published by Swift Press.[46]
Honours and awards
Clanchy was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL) in 2010[47] and resigned her fellowship in 2023.[48]
Clanchy was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2018 Birthday Honours.[49] Other awards include:
- 1994 Eric Gregory Award[15]
- 1997 Forward Poetry Prize (Best First Collection) for Slattern[50]
- 1996 London Arts Board New Writer Award*[51]
- 1996 Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award for Slattern
- 1996 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for Slattern[52]
- 1997 Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize (shortlist) for Slattern[51]
- 1997 Somerset Maugham Award for Slattern.[17]
- 1999 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) for Samarkand[50]
- 1999 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for Samarkand[53]
- 2004 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) (shortlist) for Newborn[50]
- 2009 Scottish Arts Council Book Award for What Is She Doing Here?: A Refugee's Story[54]
- 2009 Writers' Guild Award for Best Book (What is She Doing Here)[18]
- 2009 V. S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for 'The Not Dead and the Saved'[55]
- 2009 BBC National Short Story Award for The Not-Dead and The Saved[19]
- 2013 Costa Book Awards (First Novel), shortlisted for Meeting the English[56]
- 2015 Ted Hughes Award for Poetry (shortlist)[57]
- 2018 Cholmondeley Award.[25]
- 2020 Orwell Prize for Political Writing for Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me[58]
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