'It is a great day for women writers. ... It highlights the way that women writers have changed the landscape of literature in this country … though I think guys will be pleased as well.'
So said Carol Ann Duffy (right) last week when she was "anointed" the new poet laureate of Britain.Duffy, 53, grew up the oldest of 5 children in a working-class area of Glasgow, Scotland. (photo credit) She often pens poetry in the form of internal monologues; her poem Mrs. Rip Van Winkle is a delightful must-read.
The media have made much of the fact that Duffy, the single mother of a teenaged daughter, is a lesbian. She said she hoped openness about her sexuality "would demonstrate that homosexuality is 'a lovely, ordinary thing.'"
The headline news was this: Duffy's the 1st woman poet laureate in the 341-year history of the post in Britain. About that fact she offered this more-the-merrier comment:
'I hope after my 10 years are up, there will be another woman laureate, then another, for 300 years.'
