Poetry Book Society

The Poetry Book Society (PBS) was founded in 1953 by T. S. Eliot and friends, including Sir Basil Blackwell, "to propagate the art of poetry". Eric Walter White was secretary from December 1953 until 1971, and was subsequently the society's chairman. The PBS was chaired by Philip Larkin in the 1980s. Each quarter the Society selects one recently published collection of poetry for its members. The Society also publishes the quarterly poetry journal Bulletin, and it administers the competition for the annual T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. The Society publishes a list of Next Generation Poets every 10 years, most recently in 2014.