卡萝尔·安·达菲（Carol Ann Duffy）是第一位女性桂冠诗人。在最近的一次访谈中，达菲发表了她对当代诗歌的一些看法。其中之一就是，她认为，当下盛行的微博短信息是现代诗歌的一种形式，是非常适合脸书一代（Facebook generation）的诗歌载体……为此，达菲发起了微博诗歌大赛。目的是让更多的孩子能够走进诗歌的世界……
Poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy says texting is a modern form of poetry and an ideal vehicle for the Facebook generation.
Duffy is the first female poet laureate
“The poem is a form of texting… it’s the original text,” Duffy said in an interview with the Guardian.
“It’s a perfecting of a feeling for language, it’s a way of saying more with less, just as texting is.”
Duffy is launching a competition for secondary school pupils, who will be invited to write their own anthologies.
Entrants can be groups or individuals. They will be given a budget to work with, and the aim is to encourage a stronger relationship between children and the world of poetry.
The deadline for entries is 1 March 2012 and the winning anthology will be announced three months later.
‘Bookless house’
The winner will be chosen by a panel of judges including Duffy, Liz Lochhead, the Scottish makar (national poet), and Gillian Clarke, the national poet of Wales.
Their anthology will be published by Picador, and Duffy will visit the winning school.
She told The Guardian she was passionate about placing poetry at the heart of the school curriculum because school was the first place she was introduced to poetry.
“I grew up in a bookless house… so if I hadn’t had the chance to experience it at school, I would never have experienced it.”
Duffy, who became the first female poet laureate in 2009, added: “The poem is the literary form of the 21st century.
“It’s able to connect young people in a deep way to language… it’s language as play.”
【信息来源：BBC News】
1. 唐纳德·温德姆（Donald Windham）是美国知名的小说家和传记作家。他在纽约的文学生涯生动鲜活；他的小说和他的传记都同样给人深刻印象。他曾经是田纳西·威廉姆斯（Tennessee Williams），林肯·科尔斯坦（Lincoln Kirstein），以及杜鲁门·卡波堤（Truman Capote）等文学名家的好友。这位纽约的文坛名宿于5月31日在曼哈顿的家中去世，享年89岁。温德姆的主要的虚构类作品包括“You Touched Me!”(1944)，短片小说集“The Warn Country”(1965)，长篇小说“Two People”(1965)。他的主要传记作品包括：“Emblems of Conduct” (1964)，“Tennessee Williams’ Letters to Donald Windham, 1940-1965” (1977)，和“Lost Friendships”(1987)
2. 这里要记录的这位作家不属于英美文学的范畴。不过还是有必要了解一下。何塞·萨拉马戈（José Saramago）是葡萄牙作家，他于1998年获得了诺贝尔文学奖。他的小说创作既有超现实主义的实验又有玩世不恭的农民的那种实用主义的体现。2010年6月18日，萨拉马戈先生去世，享年87岁。有关萨拉马戈先生的其他相关情况，可在其官方网站（