By . Rosie Taylor . PUBLISHED: . 04:12 EST, 15 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:12 EST, 15 January 2013 . When her husband of 30 years left her for another woman, Sharon Olds wrote poems as a way of coping with the heartbreak. But more than a decade later, she has had the last laugh after the poems she penned won the TS Eliot Prize. Mother-of-two Sharon Olds, 70, split with her husband when she was 55. Award winner: Sharon Olds has won the TS Eliot Prize for a collection of poems about her husband of 30 years leaving her for another woman . She wrote poems about the whole process of the separation, from the moment her husband said he was leaving her for another woman, to running into him with his new partner. She described in detail the difficulty of events like telling her mother it was over and her grief at being deserted, but also wrote about the strength she gained from her new-found freedom. A long time coming: Sharon Olds, pictured at a reading in New York in 2009, wrote the collection called Stag's Leap - named after the former couple's favourite wine - 15 years ago.  But the author only released the poems last year after promising her children not to publish anything about her divorce for at least 10 years . Miss Olds promised her children she would not publish anything about the divorce for 10 years afterwards. ‘I want to ask myalmost-no-longer husband what it’s like to notlove, but he does not want to talk about it,he wants a stillness at the end of it.’ ‘And sometimes I feel as if, already,I am not here – to stand in his thirty-yearsight, and not in love’s sight,I feel an invisibility like a neutron in a cloud chamber buried in a mile-longaccelerator, where what cannotbe seen is inferred by what the visibledoes. ‘ . ‘I want to say to him, now, Whatwas it like, to love me – when you looked at me,what did you see? When he loved me, I lookedout at the world as if from insidea profound dwelling, like a burrow, or a well, I’d gazeup, at noon, and see Orionshining – when I thought he loved me, when I thoughtwe were joined not just for breath’s time,but for the long continuance,the hard candies of femur and stone,the fastnesses.’ ‘And afterthe first minute, when I say, Is this abouther, and he says, No, it’s aboutyou, we do not speak of her.’ She finally unveiled the collection, entitled Stag’s Leap after the former couple’s favourite wine - 15 years later. Announcing it had won the coveted T S . Eliot Prize, poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the judging . panel, described it as ‘a tremendous book of grace and gallantry’. She added: 'From over 130 . collections, we were particularly impressed by the strong presence of . women on the list and were unanimous in awarding the 2012 T.S. Eliot . Prize to Sharon Olds' Stag's Leap.' Miss Olds, who was born in San Fransico, is the first American woman to win the £15,000 prize, which was awarded in a ceremony in London yesterday. Miss Olds said finally publishing the poems 15 years after the separation allowed her to move on. ‘Something did shift. Definitely, yes - there was a sense of completion,’ she said in recent interview. Her previous collection, One Secret Thing, which explored themes of war, family relationships and the death of her mother, was shortlisted for the award in 2009 and she was also shortlisted in 1992 for The Father. She currently teaches creative writing at New York University. The TS Eliot Prize, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, was established in 1993 to honour the 40th anniversary of the Poetry Book Society and is named after the society’s founding poet. Widely considered to be one of the world’s most important poetry awards, it is given to the best new collection of poetry published in the UK and Ireland each year. Previous winners include Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy and Seamus Heaney. Poets who made this year’s shortlist, including Simon Armitage and Gillian Clarke, were each presented with £1,000. Successful: Sharon Olds has previously had two works - One Secret . Thing and The Father - shortlisted for the coveted award named after Poetry Book Society's founder and famed poet Thomas Stearns Eliot, pictured right .
Mother-of-two Sharon Olds, 70, was left by her husband of 30 years for another woman 15 years ago .
She wrote poetry about the separation to help her deal with the heartbreak .
The prize-winning collection - called Stag’s Leap - was published last year .
By . Rosie Taylor . PUBLISHED: . 04:12 EST, 15 January 2013 . | . UPDATED: . 11:12 EST, 15 January 2013 . When her husband of 30 years left her for another woman, Sharon Olds wrote poems as a way of coping with the heartbreak. But more than a decade later, she has had the last laugh after the poems she penned won the TS Eliot Prize. Mother-of-two Sharon Olds, 70, split with her husband when she was 55. Award winner: Sharon Olds has won the TS Eliot Prize for a collection of poems about her husband of 30 years leaving her for another woman . She wrote poems about the whole process of the separation, from the moment her husband said he was leaving her for another woman, to running into him with his new partner. She described in detail the difficulty of events like telling her mother it was over and her grief at being deserted, but also wrote about the strength she gained from her new-found freedom. A long time coming: Sharon Olds, pictured at a reading in New York in 2009, wrote the collection called Stag's Leap - named after the former couple's favourite wine - 15 years ago.  But the author only released the poems last year after promising her children not to publish anything about her divorce for at least 10 years . Miss Olds promised her children she would not publish anything about the divorce for 10 years afterwards. ‘I want to ask myalmost-no-longer husband what it’s like to notlove, but he does not want to talk about it,he wants a stillness at the end of it.’ ‘And sometimes I feel as if, already,I am not here – to stand in his thirty-yearsight, and not in love’s sight,I feel an invisibility like a neutron in a cloud chamber buried in a mile-longaccelerator, where what cannotbe seen is inferred by what the visibledoes. ‘ . ‘I want to say to him, now, Whatwas it like, to love me – when you looked at me,what did you see? When he loved me, I lookedout at the world as if from insidea profound dwelling, like a burrow, or a well, I’d gazeup, at noon, and see Orionshining – when I thought he loved me, when I thoughtwe were joined not just for breath’s time,but for the long continuance,the hard candies of femur and stone,the fastnesses.’ ‘And afterthe first minute, when I say, Is this abouther, and he says, No, it’s aboutyou, we do not speak of her.’ She finally unveiled the collection, entitled Stag’s Leap after the former couple’s favourite wine - 15 years later. Announcing it had won the coveted T S . Eliot Prize, poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, who chaired the judging . panel, described it as ‘a tremendous book of grace and gallantry’. She added: 'From over 130 . collections, we were particularly impressed by the strong presence of . women on the list and were unanimous in awarding the 2012 T.S. Eliot . Prize to Sharon Olds' Stag's Leap.' Miss Olds, who was born in San Fransico, is the first American woman to win the £15,000 prize, which was awarded in a ceremony in London yesterday. Miss Olds said finally publishing the poems 15 years after the separation allowed her to move on. ‘Something did shift. Definitely, yes - there was a sense of completion,’ she said in recent interview. Her previous collection, One Secret Thing, which explored themes of war, family relationships and the death of her mother, was shortlisted for the award in 2009 and she was also shortlisted in 1992 for The Father. She currently teaches creative writing at New York University. The TS Eliot Prize, which celebrated its 20th anniversary this year, was established in 1993 to honour the 40th anniversary of the Poetry Book Society and is named after the society’s founding poet. Widely considered to be one of the world’s most important poetry awards, it is given to the best new collection of poetry published in the UK and Ireland each year. Previous winners include Ted Hughes, Carol Ann Duffy and Seamus Heaney. Poets who made this year’s shortlist, including Simon Armitage and Gillian Clarke, were each presented with £1,000. Successful: Sharon Olds has previously had two works - One Secret . Thing and The Father - shortlisted for the coveted award named after Poetry Book Society's founder and famed poet Thomas Stearns Eliot, pictured right .
Prize. Mother-of-two Sharon Olds, 70, split with of poems about her husband of 30 years leaving her for another woman . She wrote poems about the called Stag's Leap - named after the former couple's favourite wine - 15 years ago.  But the author only released the poems last year after years after the separation allowed her to move