A POSTGRADUATE student’s first collection of poetry has earned her a place on a list of “the 20 most exciting poets of their generation”, which was published yesterday.

Leontia Flynn, 29, who was born in Belfast, is currently finishing a PhD at Queen’s University, but she has been picked by a panel chaired by Andrew Motion, the Poet Laureate, for her collection, These Days.

Flynn writes about Belfast and the north of Ireland. She ranges from memories of childhood to the instabilities of adulthood, with a constant theme of searching for physical and mental wellbeing.

Ten years after the groundbreaking “New Generation campaign” changed the landscape of British poetry, a list of 20 new voices has been chosen to reflect the next generation.

The poets, all first published after 1994, include Flynn’s editor at the publishers Jonathan Cape, Robin Robertson. His first volume of poetry, A Painted Field, was published in 1997 and went on to win the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival prize and the Saltire Society Scottish First Book of the Year Award. His second collection, Slow Air, was published by Picador in 2002.

The 1994 New Generation Poets included names who went on to find further acclaim, such as Simon Armitage, John Burnside and Don Paterson.

The Poet Laureate said the selection proved that contemporary poetry is thriving: “Individually and collectively, these poets have a remarkable range, appeal and authority.”

The full list: Patience Agbabi, Amanda Dalton, Nick Drake, Jane Draycott, Paul Farley, Leontia Flynn, Matthew Francis, Sophie Hannah, Tobias Hill, Gwyneth Lewis, Alice Oswald, Pascale Petit, Jacob Polley, Deryn Rees-Jones, Maurice Riordan, Robin Robertson, Owen Sheers, Henry Shukman, Catherine Smith, Jean Sprackland.

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