Ariadne by Fiona Benson Broken Sleep Books

Winner of the Michael Marks International Greek Bicentennial Poetry Prize

‘This prize-winning portfolio is a radically original insight into the myth. The poems are truthful, tender and appalling, showing us how vital the legacy of Greece still is; and also why, two hundred years ago, so many non-Greeks joined the struggle for Independence.’

    — Poetry Prize judges

The Michael Marks International Greek Bicentennial Poetry Prizes celebrate 200 years since the beginning of the Modern Greek State. Hundreds of international poets and illustrators submitted portfolios of new work, responding to the culture and history of the Greeks. This winners’ pamphlet, Ariadne, is the culmination of the prizes. It contains the winning sequence of poems, Ariadne, by Fiona Benson, a separate portfolio of illustrations, by Judith Eyal, and translations of the winning poems by Haris Psarras.

Fiona Benson was educated at Trinity College, Oxford and then St Andrews University. Her full-length collection Bright Travellers (Cape, 2014) received the Seamus Heaney Prize for first collection and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. Her second book, Vertigo & Ghost (Cape, 2019) won the Forward Poetry Prize. She lives in mid-Devon with her husband and their two daughters.

Judith Eyal is an Art Director, designer and illustrator. She was born and works in Tel Aviv, Israel. A graduate of the Bezalel Art & Design Academy, Jerusalem, she undertook further studies in England on a British Council scholarship. She is a co-founder and former chairperson of The Israeli Association of Illustrators.

Haris Psarras has published five poetry books, contributed essays and articles to journals, and edited volumes. He studied law at Athens, Oxford, and Edinburgh, and was Fellow in Law at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. He is now Lecturer in Law at Southampton.