Melissa Lee-Houghton
Born1982 (age 41–42)
Wythenshawe, England
NationalityEnglish
Occupation(s)Writer, Poet
AwardsSomerset Maugham Award (2017)

Melissa Lee-Houghton (born in 1982 in Wythenshawe)[1][2] is an English poet, fiction writer, and essayist. Her 2016 poetry collection, Sunshine, won the Somerset Maugham Award[3][4] and was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award[5] and Costa Book Award for Poetry.[1][6]

Biography

Lee-Houghton was born in 1982 in Wythenshawe, England.[1][2][7]

Lee-Houghton began writing poetry in elementary school.[8] As a child, she was "the victim of horrific sexual abuse" and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.[9] In 1996, at age 14, she had a prolonged hospital stay in a psychiatric ward, during which she began writing letters and poetry.[9] Lee-Houghton has stated, "Writing helped me feel as though I was releasing some of the anguish that I’d been forced to keep to myself."[9] Two years later, Lee-Houghton became pregnant and homeless.[8] In 2002, she was hospitalized for a mixed affective episode and given benzodiazepine, to which she became addicted.[9] During this time, she was unable to keep writing, though she began again during a 2008 hospitalization.[9] The following year, she finished her first book, A Body Made of You,[9] which was published in 2011. Discussing the power of writing poetry for her, Lee-Houghton stated, "Writing poetry, for me, has an intoxicating effect akin to taking a drug - in many ways, it is a short-term, substitutive distraction. But it provides satisfaction, both through the act of creating and the subsequent rewards of earning money and the enthusiastic responses of others."[9]

Her poetry, essays, and short stories have been published in Granta,[10] The White Review,[11] and others. Aside from writing, Lee-Houghton regularly reviews submissions for The Short Review.[12]

Awards and honors

Beautiful Girls was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for Winter 2013.[1][12]

In 2014, Lee-Houghton was selected as a Next Generation Poet,[7] a list created every 20 years by the Poetry Book Society of poets "expected to dominate the poetry landscape of the coming decade."[13][14] Lee-Houghton was ranked 69th in PBS's "A to Z guide of 100 Women Poets to Read Now."[15][16] In 2016, she won the Northern Writers’ Awards for Fiction.[17][10]

Awards for Lee-Houghton's writing
Year Title Award Result Ref.
2016 "i am very precious" Forward Prize for Best Single Poem Shortlist [18][19][9]
2016 Sunshine Ted Hughes Award Shortlist [5]
2017 Sunshine Costa Book Award for Poetry Shortlist [1][6]
2017 Sunshine Somerset Maugham Award Winner [3][4]
2020 That Lonesome Valley Republic of Consciousness Prize Longlist [20][21]

Publications

Single-author collections

  • Bite Your Tongue When You Give Me My Name (2009)
  • Patterns of Mourning: Poetry (2009)
  • A Body Made of You (2011)
  • Beautiful Girls (2013)
  • Sunshine (2016)
  • Cumshot in D Minor (2017)
  • The Faithful Look Away (2018)
  • That Lonesome Valley (2019)

Multi-author collections

  • Cold Fire. Poetry inspired by David Bowie (2000)
  • Coin Opera 2, edited by Kirsten Irving and Jon Stone (2013)

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Melissa Lee-Houghton". The Poetry Society: Poems. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  2. 1 2 "Melissa Lee-Houghton". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  3. 1 2 "2017 Somerset Maugham Award Winners". Barnes & Noble. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  4. 1 2 "Somerset Maugham Awards". The Society of Authors. 2020-05-08. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  5. 1 2 "2016". The Poetry Society. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  6. 1 2 Mullen, Alice (2017-01-04). "Costa Prize Winner Announced!". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  7. 1 2 "Melissa Lee-Houghton". Next Generation Poets 2014. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  8. 1 2 "MELISSA LEE-HOUGHTON In conversation with Forward Arts Foundation". Forward Arts Foundation. Retrieved 2023-02-09.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Melissa Lee-Houghton: 'Articulating your experience is remarkably life-affirming'". The Guardian. 2016-10-10. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  10. 1 2 "Melissa Lee-Houghton". Granta. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  11. ↑ "Melissa Lee-Houghton". The White Review. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  12. 1 2 "Melissa Lee-Houghton - Literature". British Council. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  13. ↑ "Next Generation Poets 2014 - Poetry Book Society". 2014-12-05. Archived from the original on 2014-12-05. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  14. ↑ Flood, Alison (2014-09-10). "'Next Generation' of 20 hotly-tipped poets announced by Poetry Book Society". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  15. ↑ Mullen, Alice (2018-03-09). "PBS' 100 WOMEN POETS TO READ NOW". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  16. ↑ Mullen, Alice (2018-02-23). "#100WOMENPOETS". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  17. ↑ Lowes, Jude (2016-07-01). "Announcing the winners of the Northern Writers' Awards 2016". New Writing North. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  18. ↑ "Sunshine by Melissa Lee-Houghton". The Poetry Book Society. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  19. ↑ "Penned in the Margins: Clarissa Luard Award Shortlisted Publishers". New Writing North. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  20. ↑ juliana (2020-01-25). "The Republic of Consciousness Prize | 2020 Readalong invitation". the [blank] garden. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
  21. ↑ "2020 Prize". Republic of Consciousness. Retrieved 2023-02-10.
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