Isabelle Baafi
English writer and editor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Isabelle Baafi is an English writer and editor, noted for her poetry.
Isabelle Baafi | |
|---|---|
| Born | London, England, U,K, |
| Alma mater | University of Kent University of Oxford |
| Occupations | Writer and editor |
| Notable work | Ripe (2020); Chaotic Good (2025) |
| Awards | Somerset Maugham Award |
| Website | isabellebaafi |
Her writing has appeared in various publications, including the Times Literary Supplement, London Magazine, The Poetry Review, Oxford Poetry, and Magma Poetry.[1][2] She is the reviews editor of Poetry London.[3]
Background
Baafi was born in London, England,[2] and is of Jamaican and South African descent.[3]
She studied at the University of Kent, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in comparative literature and film.[4] She also earned a postgraduate degree in creative writing from the University of Oxford.[5]
She was the winner of the 2019 Vincent Cooper Literary Prize,[6] and was shortlisted for the 2019 Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition, presented by the Oxford Brookes University.[7]
Baafi's 2020 debut pamphlet, Ripe, won a Somerset Maugham Award and was the Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice for Spring 2021.[7][2] Baafi was also shortlisted for the 2020 Bridport Prize and the 2021 Brunei International African Poetry Prize.[8]
Baafi has served as a Ledbury poetry critic, an Obsidian Foundation Fellow, and a board member at Magma.[9][10] In 2023, Baafi was the winner of the Winchester Poetry Prize (presented by the Winchester Poetry Festival held in Winchester) for her poem "The Path of Least Resilience".[11]
Baafi's first poetry collection, Chaotic Good, published by Faber & Faber, won the 2025 Forward Prize for Best First Collection.[12] It was also shortlisted for the 2025 T. S. Eliot Prize[13] and selected as a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for summer 2025.[14]
Awards
- 2025: Forward Prize for Best First Collection, for Chaotic Good
- 2025: T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlisted), for Chaotic Good
- 2023: Winchester Poetry Prize for "The Path of Least Resilience"
- 2021: Somerset Maugham Award for Ripe
- 2021: Brunei International African Poetry Prize (shortlisted)
- 2020: Bridport Prize (shortlisted)
- 2019: Vincent Cooper Literary Prize
- 2019: Oxford Brookes International Poetry Competition (shortlisted)
Publications
- Ripe (Ignition Press, 2020)
- Chaotic Good (Faber and Faber, 2025, ISBN 9780571390953)