Poetry in motion for young writer Anna
A Perthshire schoolgirl has come top of her class for the success of her poem about the stars, after being highly placed in an international competition that attracted 11,000 entries.
Anna Gilmore Heezen, a day girl at Bridge of Earn’s Kilgraston School, finished in 85th place in the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2019 - a great achievement considering 11,000 poems written by youngsters aged 11-17, from 76 different countries were up against her work‘Celestial Acne’.
Anna was awarded her commendation prize by Scots Makar (the national poet laureate of Scotland), Jackie Kay.
The young poet went to the ceremony in London’s Southbank Centre in October.
‘Celestial Acne’tackled the issue of body image against the backdrop of astrological characters.
“The planets’surface reminded me of a teenage complexion and I wanted to celebrate that imperfection, looking at it through a prism of positivity,”Anna explained.
She got her spotty inspiration from a helpful exchange with her grandfather.
“His wisdom reassured me during a moment of teenage doubt about my appearance,”said Anna.“His belief in me gave me renewed confidence that anyone can be a giant of the universe.
“Meeting Jackie Kay, such an icon of the poetry world, was such a huge honour.
“Having studied her work for an exam, it was surreal to meet the actual author.”
A keen poet from a young age, Anna has entered other competitions, most recently receiving a commendation for the William Soutar Prize for her poem ‘Autumntide’.
As president of the Kilgraston poetry society, Anna is a prolific poet, voraciously reading other lyricists.
Her ambition is to be a published poet, while going on to study languages at university.
Anna has now set up a poets’forum on which several of the young competition entrants now share their work and ideas.