Forward Prize for Best Collection 2023 (£10,000)

WINNER BEST COLLECTION

Jason Allen-Paisant
Self Portrait as Othello (Carcanet)

Jamaican writer and academic Jason Allen-Paisant collected the prize for Best Collection in Leeds, the city where he lives, for his seminal Self-Portrait as Othello (Carcanet).

‘An exhilarating and propulsive read that sweeps through several European cities that become subject to the black male gaze, changing what is seen and who is heard. Playful, intimate and allusive, these poems interrogate masculinity and history, experiment with the myth of Othello, mourn absent fathers, and offer us a refreshing mash-up of languages that regenerate poetry so that it feels freshly minted.’
Chair of Judges for the Best Collections panel, Bernardine Evaristo