Carol Rumens FRSL (born 10 December 1944 Forest Hill, South London) is a British poet.
Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her degree. She gained a Postgraduate Diploma in Writing for the Stage (with Distinction) from City College Manchester in 2001.
She taught at University of Kent at Canterbury (1983-5), Queen's University Belfast (1991-3 and 1995-8)), University College Cork (1994), University of Stockholm (1999), and University of Hull. As visiting Professor of Creative Writing, she now teaches at the University of Wales, Bangor. and the University of Hull.
Rumens was Poetry Editor for the publisher Quarto (1982-4) and the Literary Review (1984–1988). Her work has appeared in The Guardian, and Harper's. She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984.
1981 Alice Hunt Bartlett Award (joint winner) Unplayed Music
1981 New Statesman Prudence Farmer Award An Easter Garland
1984 Cholmondeley Award
1998 Belfast Arts Award for Literature (shortlist) Holding Pattern
1998 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist - A Day in the Life of Farmer Dream)
2001 Cardiff International Poetry Competition (Fourth Prize - Kings of the Playground)
2001 National Poetry Competition (Stay in Touch)
2002 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Single Poem) (shortlist)
"Girl, Got; Direct Train; December in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City; Dotage". Acorn 15.
A Strange Girl in Bright Colours. Quartet. 1973.
A Necklace of Mirrors Ulsterman, 1978
Unplayed Music. Secker & Warburg. 1981.
Scenes from the Gingerbread House. Bloodaxe. 1982. ISBN 978-0-906427-27-9.
Star Whisper. Secker & Warburg. 1983. ISBN 978-0-436-43901-8.
Direct Dialling. Chatto & Windus. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7011-2911-8.
Icon Waves The Star Wheel Press, 1986
Selected Poems. Chatto & Windus. 1987. ISBN 978-0-7011-3201-9.
The Greening of the Snow Beach. Bloodaxe. 1988. ISBN 978-1-85224-062-2.
From Berlin to Heaven. Chatto & Windus. 1989.
Thinking of Skins: New and Selected Poems. Bloodaxe. 1993. ISBN 978-1-85224-280-0.
Best China Sky. Bloodaxe. 1995. ISBN 978-1-85224-337-1.
The Miracle Diet. Bloodaxe. 1997. ISBN 978-1-85224-418-7.
Holding Pattern. Blackstaff Press. 1998. ISBN 978-0-85640-638-6.
Hex. Bloodaxe. 2002. ISBN 978-1-85224-602-0.
Selected Poems 1968-2004. Bloodaxe. 2004. ISBN 978-1-85224-680-8.
Blind Spots. Seren. 2008. ISBN 978-1-85411-465-5.
De Chirico's Threads. Seren. 2010. ISBN 978-1-85411-534-8.
Plato Park. Chatto & Windus. 1987. ISBN 978-0-7011-3202-6.
Making for the Open: The Chatto Book of Post-Feminist Poetry 1964-1984. Chatto & Windus. 1985. ISBN 978-0-7011-2848-7.
Slipping Glimpses: Winter Poetry Supplement (editor) Poetry Book Society, 1985
New Women Poets. Bloodaxe. 1990. ISBN 978-1-85224-145-2.
Two Women Dancing: New and Selected Poems of Elizabeth Bartlett (editor) Bloodaxe, 1995
Old City, New Rumours: A Hull Anthology (editor Five Leaves Press, 2010
Nearly Siberia (Pascal Theatre Company, Newcastle and London, 1989)
The Freak of the Week Show (EyeSpy Theatre Company, East Didsbury Studio, Manchester, 2001)
Suzanne Hecabe (Arden School of Theatre, Manchester, 2002).
Pencil Letter /Irina Ratushinskaya (translator) Bloodaxe, 1988
The Poetry of Perestroika. Translator Carol Rumens, Richard McKane. Iron Press. 1990. ISBN 978-0-906228-35-7.
After Pushkin (contributor) Carcanet, 2000 with Yuri Drobyshev
Yevgenii Rein: Selected Poems (translator) Bloodaxe, 2001
Self into Song: Newcastle/Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures Bloodaxe, 2006
Carol Rumens (21 January 2009). "Elizabeth Alexander's praise poem was way too prosy". The Guardian (London).
Carol Rumens (15 December 2008). "Poem of the week: Darling, Would You Please Pick Up Those Books?". The Guardian (London).
Carol Rumens (23 August 1992). "BOOKS / Poetry: Carol Rumens on two exciting new collections". The Independent (London).
Writing Poetry. Routledge. 2006. ISBN 978-0-415-30389-7.
