J. O. Morgan (born 1978) is an author from Edinburgh, Scotland. The latest of his seven volumes of verse, The Martian's Regress, is set in the far future, when humans "lose their humanity."[1] He has also published two novels: Pupa (2021) and Appliance (2022).

Works

Each of Morgan's seven poetry volumes is a single book-length work. His fifth, Interference Pattern, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize[2] and his first, Natural Mechanical, won the Aldeburgh Poetry Prize in 2009.[3]

The third work, At Maldon (2014), revisits the Old English epic Battle of Maldon, detailing events that took place on the Essex coast in 991 CE.[4] A recording of Morgan reading it was made for the Poetry Archive on 27 May 2014.[5] He has recited the whole work from memory on several occasions.

Royal Air Force involvement in maintaining the Airborne Nuclear Deterrent in the early Cold War period forms the basis for Morgan's sixth publication, Assurances (2018). It was shortlisted for the Forward Prize[6] and won the Costa Poetry Award, when the judges praised it as "original, compelling, ambitious, highly accomplished and marvellously sustained".

Morgan's most recent volume of poetry, The Martian's Regress (2020), is set in the far future. It considers "what humans become when they lose their humanity," and explores "what a fragile environment eventually makes of those who persist in tampering with it."[1]

Publications

• Appliance (Jonathan Cape, 2022) ISBN 978 1 7873338 8 8
• Pupa (Henningham Family Press, 2021) ISBN 978 1 9162186 3 5
• The Martian's Regress (Jonathan Cape, 2020) ISBN 978 1 7873321 4 0
• Assurances (Jonathan Cape, 2018) ISBN 978 1 7873308 5 6
• Interference Pattern (Jonathan Cape, 2016) ISBN 978 1 9107020 2 4
• In Casting Off (HappenStance Press, 2015) ISBN 978 1 910131 15 2
• At Maldon (CB editions, 2013) ISBN 978 0 9573266 5 1
• Long Cuts (CB editions, 2011) ISBN 978 0 9567359 2 8
• Natural Mechanical (CB editions 2009) ISBN 978 0 9557285 9 4

Awards and recognition

• 2022 – Orwell Prize for Political Fiction (finalist) – Appliance
• 2020 – T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry (shortlist) – The Martian's Regress
• 2018 – Costa Poetry Award (won) – Assurances
• 2018 – Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection (shortlist) – Assurances
• 2016 – T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry (shortlist) – Interference Pattern
• 2016 – Saltire Society Poetry Award (shortlist) – Interference Pattern
• 2016 – Poetry Book Society Recommendation – Interference Pattern
• 2014 – Saltire Society Poetry Award (shortlist) – At Maldon
• 2012 – Scottish Poetry Book Award (shortlist) – Long Cuts
• 2010 – Scottish Poetry Book Award (shortlist) – Natural Mechanical
• 2009 – Aldeburgh Poetry Prize (won) – Natural Mechanical
• 2009 – Forward Poetry Prize for First Collection (shortlist) – Natural Mechanical
• 2009 – Poetry Book Society Recommendation – Natural Mechanical

References

External links

• "J. O. Morgan". Scottish Poetry Library.
• Helena Nelson of HappenStance Press on At Maldon
• J. O. Morgan reads from Interference Pattern Royal Festival Hall (15 Jan 2017)
• Beth McDonough on Interference Pattern in Dundee University Review of the Arts
• Forward Arts Foundation interview with J. O. Morgan