Gavin Bantock's poem `White Russian' has been shortlisted for the Strokestown International Poetry Prize 2010

`SeaManShip’ is an extraordinary and challenging poem. The `Sea’ of the title is a symbol of the natural world, `Man’ represents human feelings and intellect, and `Ship’ signifies the artificial or man-created.

By turns rhapsodic and incantatory, the poem is loosely based on the structure of a computer manual. The author writes of it that `SeaManShip charts the struggles of a man, perhaps an overly romantic one, forced to face reality and come to terms with the chaos and confusions of the modern world.’

Born in England in 1939, Gavin Bantock wrote his long poem `Christ' while at New College, Oxford. The poem won the Richard Hillary Award for 1964 and the Poetry Society's Award for 1966. Since 1969, when he received an
Eric Gregory Award, he has lived in Japan, teaching drama at Reitaku University. In 1998 he was awarded third prize in the Arvon Foundation International Poetry Competition. His previous book of poems, `Just Think of It’, was published by Anvil in 2002.