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Is Carol Ann Duffy Britain’s new Poet Laureate?

The Independent seems to think so. They are reporting that Duffy’s name has been sent to the Queen for approval, and that her appointment is so certain that bookies have stopped taking bets on her (the closest thing to a slam-dunk in Britain). If confirmed, Duffy would not only become the first woman to serve as Poet Laureate, but the first openly gay woman, at that.

Her appointment to succeed outgoing Poet Laureate Andrew Motion would not be uncontroversial. According to the Independent:

Her popularity has grown on the back of her becoming a stalwart if occasionally controversial feature of the school curriculum. Last year she found herself at the centre of a censorship row after her poem “Education For Leisure,” which examines a young boy’s fascination with street crime, was dropped by an exam body. She narrowly missed out to Motion when he was appointed Laureate in 1999 because the then Prime Minister Tony Blair felt her sexuality would prove unacceptable to Middle England. She was said to have been left deeply bruised and declared herself “out of the picture” for any future contest, later excoriating the idea of writing a poem for Prince Edward and his bride Sophie, the creation of verse to mark royal nuptials being part of a Laureate’s work.

Duffy has apparently had a change of heart, and is now willing to accept the post. This puts her in opposition to fellow poet Wendy Cope, a former favourite to succeed Motion, who recently suggested that the position of Poet Laureate should be abolished.

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