In These Days of Prohibition

A great performer on page and stage, Caroline Bird in her fifth collection pretends to lay down her celebrated satiric weaponry to seek out 'simple truth'. Venturing into the badlands of the human psyche, she finds more than we bargained for. From a geriatric thrill-seeker more concerned with sexual experimentation than reading the Radio Times, to a self storage facility that holds people's shameful secrets rather than their belongings, Caroline's direct and unflinching approach cuts to the heart of the human experience, our fears, loves and internal conflicts.

Short-listed for The T.S. Eliot Prize 2017 Short-listed for Ted Hughes Award 2017

“"Her poems burst with linguistic energy." -- Times Literary Supplement”

'Caroline Bird's In These Days of Prohibition is equally pleasurable and disturbing, because it understands the genuinely strange ground on which we must build our thoughts and our emotions. In work of great and frequently comic poise it captures moments of absolute loss of control, and absolute freedom. We recognise that sustained unsettling comic virtuosity is the startling agent by which we engage with such loss, such freedom.' - W.N Herbert (Chair of the 2017 T.S. Eliot Prize Judging Panel); 'Her poems burst with linguistic energy.' - Times Literary Supplement; 'What an original captivating and spellbinding voice. Bird is fearless. She's dangerous and witty too with a rare quality of imagination.' - Lemn Sissay; 'Bird is irrepressible; she simply explodes with poetry. The work erupts, spring-loaded, funny, sad, deadly - you don't know if a bullet will come out of the barrel or a flag with the word BANG on it.' - Simon Armitage

Caroline Bird is an award-winning poet. Her first collection Looking Through Letterboxes was published in 2002 when she was 15. Her second collection, Trouble Came to the Turnip, was published in September 2006 to critical acclaim. Watering Can (2009) achieved a 'Poetry Book Society Recommendation' and her fourth collection, The Hat-Stand Union, (2013) was described by Simon Armitage as 'spring-loaded, funny, sad and deadly.' She won a major Eric Gregory Award in 2002 and was short-listed for the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2001. She was short-listed for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2008 and 2010. She was one of the five official poets at London Olympics 2012. Her poem, The Fun Palace, which celebrates the life and work of Joan Littlewood, is still erected on the Olympic Site outside the main stadium. She is also a playwright. Her new version of The Trojan Women premiered at the Gate Theatre in 2012. Her original play, Chamber Piece, was a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn prize 2014, and toured as part of Lyric Hammersmith's Secret Theatre season. In 2013, she was short-listed for Most Promising New Playwright at the Off-West-End Awards. She wrote a radical new adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for Northern Stage in 2015. She is currently writing the book and lyrics for Dennis the Menace The Musical for the Old Vic.

A great performer on page and stage, Caroline Bird in her fifth collection pretends to lay down her celebrated satiric weaponry to seek out 'simple truth'. Venturing into the badlands of the human psyche, she finds more than we bargained for. From a geriatric thrill-seeker more concerned with sexual experimentation than reading the Radio Times, to a self storage facility that holds people's shameful secrets rather than their belongings, Caroline's direct and unflinching approach cuts to the heart of the human experience, our fears, loves and internal conflicts.

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