John Burnside wins prestigious TS Eliot poetry prize

London: Scottish poet John Burnside has won the TS Eliot Prize for poetry. The poet picked up the 15,000 pounds ($23,000) for his collection, “Black Cat Bone,” at a ceremony in central London on Monday. Burnside beat out a shortlist of peers, including Britain’s poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy and British writer Sean O’Brien. Gillian Clarke, chair of the judging panel, called Burnside’s winning work a “haunting book of great beauty, powered by love, childhood memory, human longing and loneliness.” [caption id=“attachment_184568” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Michael Graf/Flickr under CC”]  [/caption] Burnside, who also has written short stories and memoirs, teaches at the University of St. Andrews and is a former writer in residence at Dundee University. The prize is awarded annually by the Poetry Book Society to the best collection published in the UK and Ireland. The award began in 1993 to celebrate the society’s 40th birthday and honour its founding poet. AP