Best Laureate
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Ted Hughes was an English poet and children's writer, UK Poet Laureate from 1984 to 1998 and author of the 1970 sequence Crow.
Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet who became UK Poet Laureate in 2009, the first woman and first openly gay writer to hold the post.
Rita Dove is an American poet and former U.S. poet laureate who won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Thomas and Beulah.
Edwin Morgan was a Scottish poet and translator, appointed the first Scots Makar, Scotland's national poet, in 2004 after decades of experimental writing.
Joy Harjo is a Muscogee Nation poet and musician, and in 2019 became the first Native American U.S. poet laureate.
Simon Armitage is an English poet, playwright, and translator, appointed UK Poet Laureate in 2019 after publishing the 1989 collection Zoom!.
Tracy K. Smith is an American poet and memoirist who won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry for Life on Mars and later served as U.S. poet laureate.
Billy Collins is an American poet known for accessible, witty verse, and served two terms as U.S. poet laureate from 2001 to 2003.
Ada Limon is an American poet known for direct lyric poems on nature and selfhood, and became U.S. poet laureate in 2022.
Jackie Kay is a Scottish poet, novelist, and playwright, appointed Scots Makar in 2016 and noted for the 1991 collection The Adoption Papers.
