{{Short description|English poet (born 1998)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use British English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox writer | name = Imogen Wade | image =<!-- Deleted image removed: frameless|upright=0.85 --> | image_size = | alt = | caption = Imogen Wade | pseudonym = | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1998}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Innes |first=Catriona |title=Why are more women suicidal than ever before? |url=https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body/health/a37289355/women-suicide/ |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Cosmopolitan |date=2021-09-10 |language=en-GB}}</ref> | birth_place = | occupation = Poet,<br/>Therapist<ref name="tmr">{{Cite web |last=Hartley |first=James |date=2026-03-06 |title=Between Life and Change: Imogen Wade on the Spiritual Urgency of Poetry in ''Girl, Swooning'' |website=The Madrid Review |url=https://themadridreview.com/f/between-life-and-change |access-date=2026-03-07}}</ref> | language = English | nationality = British | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = University of Exeter <small>BA</small>,<br/>University of Plymouth | genre = | notableworks = [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/248993804-girl-swooning ''Girl, Swooning''],<br/>[https://poems.poetrysociety.org.uk/poems/the-time-i-was-mugged-in-new-york-city/ 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City'] | awards = National Poetry Competition 2023,<br/>Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024 | signature = | signature_alt = | website = {{URL|https://imogenwadepoetry.co.uk/}} | portaldisp = }} '''Imogen Wade''' (born 1998<ref name=":0" />) is an English poet from Harlow.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Harlow woman wins National Poetry Competition |url=https://www.yourharlow.com/2024/04/03/harlow-women-wins-national-poetry-competition/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Your Harlow |date=2024-04-03 |language=en-GB}}</ref> She won the National Poetry Competition 2023 for her poem 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City',<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Creamer |first=Ella |title=Poem inspired by New York mugging wins top prize in National Poetry Competition |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/mar/25/poem-inspired-by-new-york-mugging-wins-top-prize-in-national-poetry-competition |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Guardian |date=2024-03-25 |language=en-GB}}</ref> and the Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024 for 'Poem About Love'.<ref name=":8" />
==Life and education== Wade grew up in Harlow, Essex, and went on to study English Literature at the University of Exeter, with a year abroad at Vassar College, New York.<ref name="site">{{Cite web |title=About Me |url=https://imogenwadepoetry.co.uk/about-me-2/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Imogen Wade Poetry |date=26 March 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
Wade later trained in person-centred therapy at the University of Plymouth, and is now a practising therapist.<ref>{{Cite web |title=About Me |url=https://velariscounselling.co.uk/about-me |website=Velaris Counselling |access-date=2026-03-07}}</ref>
==Writing== Wade began publishing from an early age, winning a commendation for a poem at the Foyle Young Poets of Year Award in 2015, judged by Liz Berry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2015 |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/foyle-young-poets-of-the-year-award/2015-2/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> Ever since, she has won several accolades, having been named a Runner-Up in The Poetry Business's 2023 New Poets Prize for her pamphlet manuscript ''Fire Safety'', selected by the poet Kim Moore,<ref>{{Cite web |title=The 2023 New Poets Prize Runner Up |url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/2024/07/16/imogen-wade/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Business |date=2024-07-16 |language=en-GB}}</ref> and commended in the 2024 Moth Poetry Prize.<ref>{{Cite news |title=€6000 Moth Poetry Prize shortlist revealed |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/2024/03/14/6000-moth-poetry-prize-shortlist-revealed/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |newspaper=The Irish Times |date=2024-03-14 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Shortlist for 2024 Moth Poetry Prize revealed |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/shortlist-for-2024-moth-poetry-prize-revealed |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Bookseller |date=2024-03-15 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2024, Wade was a finalist in the Montreal Prize for her poem 'Argos'.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |title=Montreal Prize 2024: Competition Finalists |url=https://www.montrealpoetryprize.com/2024-competition |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Montreal International Poetry Prize |year=2024 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> She was also named first prize winner in the Ware Poets Open Competition 2023,<ref>{{Cite web |title='Lyricism of an abduction': Imogen Wade's 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City' wins National Poetry Competition |url=https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=134314 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Write Out Loud |date=2024-03-25 |language=en-GB}}</ref> and her poems have appeared in ''The Poetry Review'', ''PN Review'', ''The London Magazine'', and elsewhere.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Imogen Wade |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/poets/imogen-wade |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> Occasionally, Wade has also organised free writing workshops.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Local poet runs free poetry workshops in Harlow |url=https://www.yourharlow.com/2025/02/12/local-poet-runs-free-poetry-workshops-in-harlow/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Your Harlow |date=2025-02-12 |language=en-GB}}</ref>
In 2024, Wade was named the winner of National Poetry Competition 2023 for her poem 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City', selected by the poets Jane Draycott, Will Harris and Clare Pollard.<ref name="npc">{{Cite web |title=National Poetry Competition |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/competitions/national-poetry-competition/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |language=en-GB}}</ref> This win got her considerable attention, with ''The Spectator'' blaming the organisation behind the competition, The Poetry Society, for having "betrayed poetry".<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Patmore |first=Angela |title=The Poetry Society has betrayed poetry |url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-poetry-society-has-betrayed-poetry/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Spectator |date=2024-04-03 |language=en-GB}}</ref> In a blog post, poet Courtenay Schembri Gray found the poem "woefully unambitious".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gray |first=Courtenay (Schembri) |title=Between Fire and Ice: Imogen Wade, The Spectator, and what traditional poetry looks like today |url=https://courtenayscorner.com/2025/02/07/between-fire-and-ice-imogen-wade-the-spectator-and-what-traditional-poetry-looks-like-today/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Courtenay's Corner |date=2025-02-07 |language=en-GB}}</ref> While ''The Spectator'' refuted the idea of Wade's poem being a poem at all, calling it "prose, printed in [a] central [block] on the page,"<ref name=":3" /> the judges praised the "paradoxical lyricism" of the poem,<ref name=":1" /> noting its strength in "skilfully and subtly open[ing] up the psychological complexity of [an] assault".<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Imogen Wade Wins the National Poetry Competition |url=https://poetrysociety.org.uk/news/imogen-wade-wins-the-national-poetry-competition/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Society |date=2024-03-25 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The poet Michael Conley praised the poem for its "tension", and said he was "glad it won a baffling amount of money."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Conley |first=Michael |title=W: Imogen Wade – The Time I Was Mugged In New York City |date=2025-12-21 |url=https://mickconley.substack.com/p/w-imogen-wade |website=I, Too, Dislike It: An A–Z of Poetry |access-date=2026-01-08}}</ref> Written in response to "a real life experience", 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City' was one of 19 thousand poems submitted to the competition in 2023.<ref name=":2" /> In an interview with the BBC, Wade noted that she was "very surpris[ed]" on receiving the news of the win, pointing out that she might now "by a domino effect" have profited "from the mugging".<ref name=":5"/>
In 2024, Wade was also named the winner of the Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024, selected by poets Jane Yeh and Glyn Maxwell, for her poem titled 'Poem About Love'. Yeh praised the work for its "sophisticated voice and compelling lines", and Maxwell called it "a heartfelt revelation of a poem".<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |title=Troubadour International Poetry Prize 2024 |url=https://www.coffeehousepoetry.org/poems/troubadour-international-poetry-prize-2024 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Coffee-House Poetry |language=en-GB}}</ref>
In October 2024, she was awarded a DYCP Grant from Arts Council England for ''A Poet's First Novel'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Developing your Creative Practice - Round 21 funded applicants |url=https://www.artscouncil.org.uk/media/22980/download?attachment |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=Arts Council England |language=en-GB}}</ref> and was later longlisted in the National Poetry Competition 2024.<ref name="npc"/>
Wade's debut poetry collection ''Girl, Swooning'' was published in March 2026 by Corsair, a Little, Brown Book Group imprint.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Imogen Wade |website=Ware Poets |url=https://warepoets.org/whats-on/kt49kv88h3yqisjnn1q27gd6vbt6jv-4fnfc |access-date=2025-11-14 |lang=en-GB}}</ref> The poet Kim Moore said that Wade "knows exactly what she is doing with the handling of line from poem to poem".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Moore |first=Kim |title=A late November and December Reads Post |url=https://shawandmoore.substack.com/p/a-late-november-and-december-reads |date=2026-01-06 |website=Shaw and Moore |access-date=2026-01-08}}</ref> ''The Madrid Review'' praised the collection for "a distinctive blend of lyrical intensity, philosophical reflection and emotional candour."<ref name="tmr"/>
==Books== *''Girl, Swooning'' (Corsair, 2026)<ref>{{Cite web |last=Wade |first=Imogen |title=Girl, Swooning |url=https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/imogen-wade/girl-swooning/9781472160386/ |website=Hachette UK Limited |access-date=2026-01-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Imogen Wade |url=https://lutyensrubinstein.co.uk/authors/imogen-wade |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=Lutyens & Rubinstein Literary Agency |language=en-GB}}</ref> {{ISBN|9781472160386}}
==Awards== *2015: Commended, Foyle Young Poets of Year<ref name=":4"/> *2023: First Prize, Ware Poets Open Competition 2023 *2023: Runner Up, The Poetry Business New Poets Prize, for ''Fire Safety''<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Winners of the 2023 New Poets Prize |url=https://poetrybusiness.co.uk/2023/07/20/the-winners-of-the-2023-new-poets-prize/ |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Poetry Business |date=2023-07-20 |language=en-GB}}</ref> *2023: Shortlisted, Plough Poetry Prize, for 'Tennis Lesson'<ref>{{Cite web |title=2023 Short List |url=https://www.theploughartscentre.org.uk/poetry-prize/2023-short-list |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=The Plough Arts Centre |date=2024-05-26 |language=en-GB}}</ref> *2024: Commended, Moth Poetry Prize<ref name=":7"/> *2024: National Poetry Competition 2023, for 'The Time I Was Mugged in New York City'<ref name=":9"/><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last1=Walker |first1=Peter |last2=Jelly |first2=Rob |title=Woman who won National Poetry Competition recalls 'blanking out' |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-68798199 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=BBC |date=2024-04-13 |language=en-GB}}</ref> *2024: Finalist, Montreal International Poetry Prize, for 'Argos'<ref name=":10"/> *2024: Troubadour International Poetry Prize *2025: Longlisted, National Poetry Competition 2024<ref name="npc"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Imogen}} Category:1998 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century English poets Category:Alumni of the University of Exeter Category:Alumni of the University of Plymouth Category:People from Harlow Category:Writers from Essex Category:21st-century women poets Category:21st-century English women poets