Peter Reading, Diplopic

For Diplopic, his sixth book, Peter Reading received the Dylan Thomas Award. The judges explained their decision in these words: “The judges’ decision is that the Award should go to Peter Reading for poems in his collection, Diplopic. In these we especially admired the combination of comedy, intellectual inventiveness, fantasy (reaching for a shared reality) and energy of expression.” In explaining the book’s title, Reading wrote, “Diplopic means pertaining to double vision. Every subject is treated from two sides. The funny and the ghastly are symbiotic…The book is meant to work as a whole, not just a gathering of poems, so that sub-plots recur throughout a bit like a novel. The book is meant to be funny and horrible.”