Sarah Howe wins Forward poetry prize for best collection

Howe’s ‘exceptional’ Foretokens took the main £10,000 award, while Nur Turkmani, Tara Bergin and Biff Smith swept up the remaining categories

Sarah Howe has won the Forward prize for best collection, one of the UK’s most prestigious poetry awards, for Foretokens, a collection that explores new parenthood, the death of her father and her mother’s early life in Hong Kong.

Howe was announced as the winner during a ceremony hosted by Joelle Taylor at London’s Southbank Centre on Saturday evening, and will receive £10,000.

Howe was born in Hong Kong to an English father and a Chinese mother. Foretokens, her second collection, comes a decade after Loop of Jade became the first debut to win the TS Eliot prize. Foretokens was also shortlisted for the 2025 TS Eliot prize.