Poem inspired by New York mugging wins top prize in National Poetry Competition | Books

A poem inspired by the author’s experience of being mugged has won the first prize of £5,000 in the National Poetry Competition.

The Time I Was Mugged in New York City by Imogen Wade tells the story of being locked in a van at JFK airport by a man dressed in black, driven to Grand Central station and made to give the man money.

“Writing this poem helped me step into my memories and unknot an event that I’d never processed,” said Wade, who lives and works in Surrey. “I revisit my 19-year-old self, an exchange student in the hazy cityscape of New York, as she travels from the…