Poetry Book Society

Set up by T S Eliot and friends in 1953 ‘to propagate the art of poetry’, the Poetry Book Society is a unique poetry society, providing information, reviews and discounts on the best contemporary poetry for an international community of readers.

The Poet Selectors choose the best new poetry collection of the quarter, which is sent to full members as part of their membership. All members also receive the Bulletin, the quarterly review of new poetry, which contains the Poet Selectors' reviews of the Choice and Recommendations and the selected poets' comments on their own work.

Awarded by the PBS to the best new collection of poetry each year, the The T S Eliot Prize for Poetry is the largest and most prestigious award of its kind in the UK and has been described by the Irish Independent as the ‘world's top poetry award'. The 2009 Prize was won by Philip Gross for The Water Table. Every year on the night before the prize-giving, the 10 short-listed poets are invited to take part in the T S Eliot Prize Readings, the biggest event of the poetry year. The T S Eliot Prize Shadowing Scheme encourages A level students to ‘shadow’ the judges and read work from new and established writers.

With a great fanfare, the PBS also has recently relaunched its online poetry bookstore, the Poetry Bookshop Online, which sells all the 90,000 poetry titles in print in the UK and a wide range of CDs, including those from the Poetry Archive, featuring one-hour recordings of over 130 poets reading their own work. Its Poetry Portal is the best place online for recommendations, reviews, interviews and discussions on anything poetry-related, and its new events database will provide details of poetry events in the UK and Ireland.

The Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets are new prizes run by the Poetry Book Society in partnership with the British Library, which throw a spotlight on poetry pamphlets through awarding prizes to the most outstanding poetry pamphlet and pamphlet publisher each year. The 2009 winners were Selima Hill and HappenStance Press.

The Children’s Poetry Bookshelf is a book club for young poetry lovers aged 7-11, offering the best new children’s poetry books chosen by our expert Selectors and memberships for parents, schools and libraries. The CPB also runs the annual Old Possum’s Children’s Poetry Competition, for 7-11 year-olds, with an international section in partnership with the British Council.

Why join the PBS? Full members receive the Choice and Bulletin review each quarter, keeping them up-to-date with the best new poetry. Associate, Charter (for libraries) and Education memberships are also available.

The current PBS membership offer is a free copy of In Person: 30 Poets (edited by Neil Astley), an anthology of 30 internationally renowned poets including 2 DVDs of the poets reading their work, and a free £10 voucher. You can join online.