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In the News |
These have been published in The Guardian (by Jackie Kay), The Independent (Sean O'Brien) and The Times. There was a fine tribute in The Journal on Tuesday 19th April. The University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne has placed a tribute to Julia on the University website.
BBC Woman's Hour carried a tribute on Thursday 14th April, and if you follow that link you can listen to a replay of the item. The BBC also reported the news on their website.
Sarah Crown, writing on the Guardian Unlimited website, said "Her unfailing optimism, honesty and generosity charmed and moved her many readers."
During January 2005, Julia Darling was the third Poet in Residence at Guardian Unlimited. The basic idea is that the Poet in Residence hosts an online workshop, a forum in which aspiring poets can receive unbiased feedback from people who know what they're talking about - real poets, in other words. Every month, the new poet sets an exercise. From the responses, a shortlist of between ten and fifteen was selected. She was delighted with the poems submitted, and her comments are on the Guardian website. Her concluding question was "are your poems brave enough?"
The Guardian's Saturday Poem was a poem from Apology for Absence, Moving to the Country.
That's the title of a comment piece Julia wrote for the Guardian which was published on August 5th 2004. Writing about her work with patients and doctors, Julia, who has advanced breast cancer, says: "I believe that poetry can help to make you better. Poetry is essential, not a frill or a nicety. ... Poetry should be part of every modern hospital, and not just something to keep patients amused. It's a powerful force, which can help us through the darkest times."
Julia was interviewed for the BBC Tyne website by Rahul Shrivastava and talked about her inspiration, picked her favourite music, gave a little advice to aspiring writers, and discussed her Tyneside-based novel, The Taxi Driver's Daughter. That interview is now online.
Julia's novel, The Taxi Driver's Daughter was a runner-up in the 2004 Encore Award, a prize of £10,000 for the best published second novel of the year, awarded by The Society of Authors. It also made the longlist for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction but, along with a number of other highly acclaimed books, failed to make the shortlist.
Julia's novel, The Taxi Driver's Daughter, was published on today by Viking Books.
Julia Darling is the second winner of the the UK's biggest literary prize, the Northern Rock Foundation Writer's Award. She received a cheque for £20,000, the first instalment of the £60,000 award, at an evening presentation at the Assembly Rooms in Newcastle on Tuesday March 11th. Read more about this award.
Created by Julia Darling and Cornwell Internet. |
Last updated on 3rd April 2005 by Roger Cornwell.
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