Public and Private Faces: Poetry and the Portrait

Bristol Poetry Institute Poetry Competition

In collaboration with the Royal West of England Academy, the Bristol Poetry Institute (BPI) is pleased to announce a poetry

competition and a masterclass in ‘poetry and the portrait’ to accompany an exhibition of portraits by acclaimed American

photographer Judith Aronson whose work is held in many leading private and public collections, including the National Portrait

Gallery, London.

The exhibition, entitled, Likenesses, runs 8 February – 20 March 2014 and includes portraits of many well known literary

figures, including poets Seamus Heaney, Geoffrey Hill, Anne Ridler, Charles Tomlinson, Derek Walcott, and American poets

Rosanna Warren and Robert Lowell.

Likenesses attempts to bridge the gap between person and portrait, capturing intimate, stolen moments. Aronson has created

believable images, where artifice is diminished and instead we are left with something, ‘directly stencilled off the real’, as

Susan Sontag writes in ‘On Photography’. Visit the RWA website for further details of the exhibition.

Poetry Competition: ‘Poetry and the Portrait’

8 February – 14 March 2014

The BPI is running an open competition to accompany the exhibition. Poems can take as their theme one of the exhibits or be

a response to an existing published photograph of a poet or other famous literary figure as long as the image can be submitted

alongside the poem (either electronically via a link or in clear quality printed format). The competition is open from 8 February

and the deadline for entries is midday on Friday 14 March.

Poems should be sent directly to Sam Thomas This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and will be forwarded anonymously to the three judges,

William Wootten, David Punter and Rachael Boast.

The winner and runner up will receive a cash prize of £50 and £30 respectively, and a copy of the book Likenesses. The commended

poet will receive a copy of the book.

The Award Ceremony will take place in the gallery on the penultimate day of the exhibition, 19 March, 6.30-7.30pm.