Carol Duffy becomes Britain’s first woman Poet Laureate

Carol Ann Duffy. Photograph: Eamonn McCabe

02 May, 2009 08:30:00

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She plans to donate £5,750 annual honorarium to Poetry Society.

The British Government appointed Scottish poet Carol Ann Duffy the country’s first woman Poet Laureate, breaking the more than 300-year glass ceiling that had seen only male bards sing paeans to the glory of the monarch.

The Glasgow-born Duffy, who succeeds Andrew Motion, was overlooked for the post in 1999 because the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, believed that Middle England — New Labour’s vote bank — was not ready for a lesbian laureate.

Ms. Duffy, who will have a 10-year tenure, pre-empted the official announcement of her appointment, confirming in a BBC interview that she had agreed to accept the post after thinking "long and hard" about it.

Ms. Duffy, whose work is taught in schools and who is best-known for her collection, The World’s Wife, said she looked upon her appointment as "recognition of the great woman poets we have writing now".

She said she was "very honoured and humbled", but made clear that she would not write to order and would ignore events such as royal weddings if they did not inspire her.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown congratulated her on her appointment as the "First Poet Laureate of the 21st Century and, of course, as the first woman to hold the post".

The long line of laureates includes William Wordsworth, Alfred Lord Tennyson and John Betjeman.