Greta Stoddart was born in Oxfordshire. Her first collection At Home in the Dark (Anvil) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 2002. Her second book, Salvation Jane (Anvil), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award 2008. She was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem in 2012. Her third book, Alive Alive O (Bloodaxe, 2015) was shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize 2016. Her radio piece 'Who's There?' was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2017. She lives in Devon and teaches for the Poetry School and the Arvon Foundation.
'Colloquial, faintly unruly, the poems travel light on adventures of consciousness, channelling the energies of a big, agnostic imagination into new forms.'
Carol Rumens, Poetry Review, 2015 on Alive Alive O
'As a poet, Stoddart is not in the business of offering solutions; the closest she comes to doing so is obliquely, through the bright snap of the language in which she presents her dilemmas, the irresistible clarity of images so right they deliver an almost physical connection, joining poem and reader...This is a collection that thrives not on solutions, but on endless, boundless possibilities.'
Sarah Crown, The Guardian, 2008
'Greta Stoddart's At Home in the Dark is a powerful first collection that sheds light not only on the darkness of home but also reveals much that's unsettling about the further afield. With their clear, percussive rhythms and their dramatic poise and timing, these poems dare and lure the reader to follow her prescient, unflinching gaze.'
Jamie McKendrick
Awards won by Greta Stoddart
Short-listed, 2016 Roehampton Poetry Prize (Alive Alive O)
Short-listed, 2012 Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem
Short-listed, 2008 Costa Poetry Award (Salvation Jane)
Winner, 2002 Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (At Home in the Dark)
Short-listed, 2001 Waterstone's Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection (At Home in the Dark)
