October 24, 2026 — At a packed ceremony in the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England on Sunday, October 18th, the winners of the 2026 Forward Prizes for Poetry were announced by Forward Arts Foundation and host Joelle Taylor, chair of judges Sarah Moss, and judge Michael Mullen. 2017 Civitella Writing Fellow Sarah Howe took home the prize for Best Poetry Collection for Foretokens (Chatto & Windus).
About the Collection
From TS Eliot prize-winner Sarah Howe, Foretokens navigates the complex inheritance of family, language and colonialism through the portrait of motherhood. Sifting through her own history, the poet asks, how can a new generation transform a shattered inheritance? And what is lost and gained in the pursuit?