King's Gold Medal for Poetry Mimi Khalvati, one of our best-loved poets, was born in Tehran, Iran, and sent away to boarding school on the Isle of Wight at the age of six, only returning to her family in Iran when she was seventeen. The loss of her native country, culture and mother tongue formed the bedrock of her adoptive love of the English language and its lyric tradition. 'But, ' she says, 'whether drawing on my few memories of Iran, my long years in London and travelling in the Mediterranean, or on that central void always facing me, I have celebrated the richness of a life that can be lived without a clear sense of heritage, family history or personal biography.' That wealth is reflected in the wide variety of style, tone and architecture in her Carcanet poetry collections over thirty-three years - free and metrical verse, ranging from short, fixed forms to extended lyrical sequences, from ghazals to the heroic corona or book-length series of sonnets. 'I hope', she writes, 'the poems speak especially to those who have made their homes wherever the tide has brought them, sometimes in language itself, and to those who have no story but place their trust in the flux and flow, the vision of the lyric moment.'
Mimi Khalvati
Mimi Khalvati is a British-Iranian poet known for her lyrical and introspective works that explore themes of identity, memory, and the human experience. Her poetry often reflects her dual cultural heritage and incorporates elements of Persian poetic tradition.
Khalvati has published several collections of poetry, including "The Meanest Flower" and "The Chine", which have garnered critical acclaim for their elegant language and emotional depth. She is also the founder of The Poetry School in London, a leading institution for poetry education.
Khalvati's contributions to contemporary poetry have been lauded for their innovation and beauty, and she has been recognized with numerous awards and honors for her work. Her most famous work, "The Meanest Flower", showcases her mastery of language and ability to evoke powerful emotions through her poetry.
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