Review: Inside track: The Bookseller: Nicholas Clee on the latest news from the world of publishing

• Published in: The Guardian (London)
• Main Author: Clee, Nicholas
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Guardian News & Media Limited 03.08.2002
• ISSN: 0261-3077; 1756-3224

* The history of Britain's top literary awards is light on scandals. There have been plenty of rows, of course; but the Booker, Whitbread and so on have never been connected with accusations of impropriety. It comes as no surprise that the first hint of such a controversy should arise in the narrow and competitive world of poetry. In 2001, Picador achieved a double in the Forward poetry prizes - along with the TS Eliot, the most prestigious poetry awards - when Sean O'Brien won best collection and John Stammers won best first collection. It was a happy endorsement of the company's decision, just a few years earlier, to enter this notoriously unremunerative field of publishing. This year, Picador has two more poets, Peter Porter and Paul Farley, in the running for the best collection prize. As was the case last year, there are two poets associated with Picador on the five-person judging panel. Some other figures, not associated with Picador, have pointed out these connections. This week Michael Donaghy, chair of the Forward judges, stepped down "in order to counteract claims of a Picador bias on the judging panel". His place will be taken by William Sieghart, founder of the prizes, who pointed out that the Picador poets had been outnumbered by three other judges: poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw, TLS editor Peter Stothard and BBC arts correspondent Rosie Millard. "The idea that these three could be browbeaten by two Picador poets is patently ridiculous," he said.