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J. O. Morgan (born 1978) is a poet from Edinburgh, Scotland. Morgan read sciences at Edinburgh University. He lives and works on a farm in the Scottish Borders, having worked on farms both in Britain and abroad.

He is to date the author of five poetry books, each of which is a single book-length work, with subjects ranging from ancient and modern British warfare to northern folkloric cultures to quantum physical theory. His most recent work, Interference Pattern, was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize, with his first book‎, Natural Mechanical, winning the Aldeburgh Poetry Prize in 2009. [1]

Morgan’s third book At Maldon (2014) takes its bearings from remnants of the Old English epic The Battle of Maldon, re-imagining the short, brutal battle that took place on the Essex coast in the year 991, when a rabble army of Anglo-Saxons gathered to defend against Viking raiders.[2] The work adheres to a basic narrative structure, while allowing the account of those who fell and those who ran to find convincing and unforced reverberations in the contemporary world. This sensitivity to the deep echo chambers of the English language, a rare alertness to the presence of history in ordinary speech, has earned Morgan’s work comparisons with Christopher Logue’s Homer, and widespread acclaim.'''

This recording of Morgan reading part of At Maldon was made for The Poetry Archive on 27 May 2014 at soundhouse and was produced by Anne Rosenfeld.

Morgan's next two volumes, In Casting Off and Interference Pattern were reviewed by David Collard in the Times Literary Supplement. Of the latter Collard writes: 'Eliot comes repeatedly to mind in reading Interference Pattern because, in its originality and lucid intelligence, in its tragic grandeur and sophistication, it is a poem that could come to be for the twenty-first century what The Waste Land was to the twentieth'. [3]

Morgan's father was an officer in the Royal Air Force and was involved with the airborne nuclear deterrent that was in place in the early years of the cold war, which is the basis of Morgan's forthcoming sixth book Assurances.

Works
Natural Mechanical(CB editions 2009) ISBN 978 0 9557285 9 4

Long Cuts(CB editions, 2011) ISBN 978 0 9567359 2 8

At Maldon(CB editions, 2013) ISBN 978 0 9573266 5 1

In Casting Off (HappenStance Press, 2015) ISBN 978 1 910131 15 2

Interference Pattern(Jonathan Cape, 2016) ISBN 978 1 9107020 2 4

Assurances (Jonathan Cape, 2018) ISBN 978 1 7873308 5 6‎

Awards & Recognition
2009 - Poetry Book Society Recommendation - Natural Mechanical

2009 - Forward Prize for First Collection (shortlist) - Natural Mechanical

2009 - Aldeburgh Poetry Prize (won) - Natural Mechanical

2010 - Scottish Poetry Book Award (shortlist) - Natural Mechanical

2012 - Scottish Poetry Book Award (shortlist) - Long Cuts

2014 - Saltire Society Poetry Award (shortlist) - At Maldon

2016 - Poetry Book Society Recommendation - Interference Pattern

2016 - Saltire Society Poetry Award (shortlist) - Interference Pattern

2016 - T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry (shortlist) - Interference Pattern

2018 - Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection (shortlist) - Assurances