'Widely reviewed and critically acclaimed'
Caroline Smith has been published extensively, appearing in Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Stand Magazine, Agenda, Acumen and anthologies, including ' Staying Alive', Bloodaxe. She has given readings around the world, collaborated in musical theatre and had her poetry set to music. She has read at Barnard College, New York, Michigan University, The British School at Rome, The Grolier Poetry Bookshop, Harvard Square, Cardiff, Ledbury and Aldeburgh Poetry Festivals and Dove Cottage for the Wordsworth Trust.
Her first publication was the praised long narrative poem 'Edith' published by Flambard Press. Awarded an Eastern Arts bursary - she wrote her debut collection, 'Thistles of the Hesperides' also published by Flambard. In 2016 her collection 'The Immigration Handbook' was published by Seren Books. It was shortlisted for The Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry and translated into Italian in 2020 by Paola Splendore and published by Edizioni dell'asino.
Caroline has also been shortlisted for the Keats/Shelley Poetry Prize 2022, The International Alpine Fellowship Prize 2022 and commended in the inaugural Patricia Eschen Poetry Prize 2022. She has new poems in The Spectator.
'Beautifully clear, and expressive language'
Caroline has been a recipient of an Eastern Arts Writers Bursary and twice a prize winner in the Troubadour Poetry Competition. Her poem Metamorphosis was included in the Bloodaxe Anthology, ‘Staying Alive’, and published for use in Irish schools public examinations. In 2023 she won first prize in East Ridge Review, Wintergreen poetry competition.
The Bedseller’s Tale was her extended musical drama in the tradition of the Arabian Nights. Caroline co-created it at the National Theatre Studio and it was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival by the Classworks Theatre Company. This exotic, dark and funny music fantasy was devised in collaboration with composer Jon Nicholls.
Nova Polska was a collaboration with composer Silvina Milstein and was first performed by the BBC Singers and London Chamber Symphony on Radio 3. It reinterpreted the Polish folk tale of the soldier prince who was turned into a mountain. He was destined to awake to the sound of the castle bell in his country’s hour of need.
