Carol Ann Duffy is new UK poet laureate

I expect you've already heard if you're a poetry sort of person, but Carol Ann Duffy has been appointed as the new poet laureate in the UK. This is especially historic because she's the first woman, and this is part of the reason she accepted the post, because it was about time.

Carol Ann Duffy is a poet lots of people I respect really like, and whom I've never quite spent the time with but always meant to. I'm sure this will be a spur for me, and many other people, to check out her books.

There's heaps more out there on the net about this, but this Guardian interview is quite thorough: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/03/carol-ann-duffy-poet-laureate