Bards averse to top poetry job
Updated on 10 June 2008
A new poet laureate will be chosen when Andrew Motion comes to the end of his term. But who wants the job?
Every 10 years there is a new poet laureate - that strange job in which one of Britain's leading writers is nominated to produce verse on state occasions and to promote poetry in schools.
The current incumbent, Andrew Motion, is coming to the end of his term, and soon the new century will see its first poet laureate. But does anyone actually want the job?
Today three leading female poets have declared themselves out of running for the position. Heaven forbid that the field should get so thin, a mere journalist has to step in.
