A series of elegies and eulogies written in the voices of an unlikely band of northern subversives; a collaboration between a poet and a medical herbalist; a multimedia live literature production about a daughter’s descent into addiction; a musical layering of words, speech, quotations and virtuosic linguistic and vocal play; and a fractured sonnet sequence based on the coincidences of room numbers are all contenders for this year’s Ted Hughes award for new work in poetry.

The shortlist is Steve Ely (Oswald’s Book of Hours); Chris McCabe (Pharmapoetica); Maggie Sawkins (Zones of Avoidance); Hannah Silva (Total Man); and Zoë Skoulding (The Museum of Disappearing Sounds). The winner will be announced at an awards reception in London on 28 March, alongside the winner of the National Poetry Competition. More details