The 40 poets on the list to be abandoned by Oxford University Press include such senior figures in 20th century poetry as Anne Stevenson, Peter Porter and Roy Fisher (Prosaic business... December 1). The loss to poetry and to literary culture is enormous. Other publishers may be able to take some of the poets, but they cannot expand their lists indefinitely.
OUP has published poetry for many years, and is connected to one of the oldest, richest universities in the world. Academia makes plenty of work and money for itself out of dead poets. If living poets are not published then the development of an ever-growing and changing tradition is damaged. Poetry is written, taught and enjoyed more widely than ever as this century closes. It is not a peripheral art form: the bestseller success of Hughes' Birthday Letters proved that poetry is very dear to many readers.
Sean O'Brien
Roger McGough,
Tony Harrison,
Carol Ann Duffy,
Don Patterson
and 36 others