Anthony Vahni Capildeo awarded prestigious Windham–Campbell Prize
The Trinidadian–Scottish poet Professor Anthony Vahni Capildeo FRSL, a former English and DPhil student at Christ Church, has been announced as one of eight winners of this year’s Windham–Campbell Prize. Through the prize – one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards – Yale University honours writers from across the globe for their exceptional achievements and promise, giving each $175,000 to support their continued work.
The Windham–Campbell Prize was established in 2013 through a gift from the celebrated novelist and memoirist Donald Windham in memory of his partner of 40 years, Sandy Campbell. Administered by Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, the annual prize goes to exceptionally talented writers of fiction, nonfiction, drama and poetry who work in the English language anywhere in the world. As Michael Kelleher, director of the prizes, explains, 'It was the late Donald Windham's wish in establishing these prizes to call attention to literary achievement and provide writers with time, space, and freedom.
'This mission remains at the heart of the Windham-Campbell Prizes, and in today’s world it is more vital than ever to recognise and support the crucial work and wisdom that writers share with us all.'
Among the winners of the 2025 Windham–Campbell Prizes is Christ Church alumnx and former researcher Professor Anthony Vahni Capildeo. The poet read English at Christ Church (m. 1991) before completing their DPhil in Old Norse literature and translation theory as a Rhodes Scholar at the College in 2001. Professor Capildeo has since published nine poetry collections and eight chapbooks, and they are currently the Writer in Residence at the University of York.
Winning the Windham-Campbell Prize has lifted weights that I didn’t even know were oppressing me internally.
Winning the Windham-Campbell Prize has lifted weights that I didn’t even know were oppressing me internally.
Much of Professor Capildeo’s poetry grapples with themes of geographic and linguistic proximity, distance and intimacy. Among their lauded collections are the books No Traveller Returns (2003), Utter (2013), Measures of Expatriation (2016), Venus as a Bear (2018), Skin Can Hold (2019), Like a Tree, Walking (2021) and Polkadot Wounds (2024). For Measures of Expatriation, Capildeo received the Forward Prize for best poetry collection, with the Chair of the Forward jury praising the work as 'poetry that transforms', while last year’s Polkadot Wounds was described in The Guardian as among the best collections in recent poetry.
'It's the most wonderful thing to feel connected to people (living and dead) who cared so much for the freedom of creative expression as to found and administer this prize; it gives me courage, and also the means to be more consistently present to my communities,' Capildeo said.
'Winning the Windham-Campbell Prize has lifted weights that I didn’t even know were oppressing me internally; it’s beyond anything I looked for in my ordinary writer’s life. First it knocked me flat, but now I’m bouncing!'
The Christ Church community would like to congratulate Professor Capildeo on this momentous achievement.
View Professor Capildeo's profile on the Windham–Campbell Prize site.
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