What an American has to do with Indian poets are they able to understand the language?”
The names of eminent poets including Geoffrey Hill and Anne Stevenson are being suggested as potential candidates for the Oxford professor of poetry post, as nominations open today to find a successor to last year’s controversial winner Ruth Padel. Padel was elected in May by 297 votes to Indian poet and critic Arvind Mehrotra’s 129, but resigned less than two weeks later after admitting passing on material to journalists alerting them to claims of sexual harassment which had been made against her rival for the post, the Nobel laureate Derek Walcott. Walcott had earlier pulled out of the race. The scandal prompted Oxford University to change the voting system for the election, which had previously only allowed Oxford graduates to vote in person at the university on a single day. Now, graduates will be able to vote online, as well as to cast their vote in person over a period of time. The university opened nominations today to find a new candidate for the 300-year-old position, seen as
