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The poets - men

Fred D’Aguiar

Fred D’Aguiar’s most recent book of poems is English Sampler: New and Selected Poems (Chatto, 2001) and his most recent novel is Bethany Bettany (Chatto, 2003). Born in London, he was raised in Guyana before returning to the UK. Currently, he lives in the USA and teaches at Virginia Tech.

Paul Batchelor

Paul Batchelor was born in Northumberland, where he still lives. His poems have appeared in many magazines. He teaches Creative Writing at Newcastle University, and edits www.acknowledgedland.com, which is for and about writers in Northumberland. His collection, The Sinking Road, will appear in May 2008 from Bloodaxe Books.

Tim Dalling

Tim Dalling has made a living from various combinations of comedy, music and acting, for more than 25 years. Usually this involves his piano accordion. His song-settings of Louis MacNeice’s poetry led to others for poets such as Sean O’Brien, Julia Darling and Andy Croft. To find out more visit www.timdalling.co.uk

Kwame Dawes

Kwame Dawes was born in Ghana in 1962 and grew up in Jamaica. He has published over a dozen collections of poetry and his book Bob Marley: Lyrical Genius remains the single most important study of the lyrics of Bob Marley. Dawes is Distinguished Poet-in-Residence at the University of South Carolina.

Hugh Dunkerley

Hugh Dunkerley grew up in Bath and first started writing poetry when he was working outdoors as a schools officer for The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers. He then trained as a teacher, eventually becoming a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at The University of Chichester. He has published two pamphlet collections of poetry, Walking to the Fire Tower and Fast, and is currently the West Sussex Poet Laureate.

John Hegley

John Hegley was born in London, educated in Luton, and on his father’s retirement, at sixth form in Mangotsfield, Bristol where he had a shaky start. He went on to study Literature at University in Bradford, where he worked with youths outside the school system. He went on to Children’s Theatre and potato poetry.

WN Herbert

WN Herbert was born in 1961 and went to Blackness Primary and Grove Academy in Dundee, and Brasenose College in Oxford. He has published seven books of poetry, the most recent being Bad Shaman Blues, and he is now Professor of Poetry and Creative Writing at Newcastle University. He has one child, Izzie, who’s 13.

Brendan Kennelly

Brendan Kennelly was born in Ballylongford, County Kerry, Ireland, in April, 1936. In the Fifties, he went to Dublin and studied in Trinity College. In the Sixties, he studied in Leeds University and returned to Trinity as a lecturer, a job he thoroughly enjoyed for 42 years. His first book was published in 1959, and he has been writing steadily since then. Bloodaxe Books in Northumberland has published many of his books.

Louis MacNeice

Louis MacNeice was born in Belfast in 1907 and educated at Oxford, where his poetry began to attract attention in the early 1930’s, where his contemporaries were Spender, Auden and Day Lewis. He worked as a writer and producer for BBC Radio. He died of pneumonia in 1963.

Norman MacCaig

Norman MacCaig was born in Edinburgh in 1910 and studied Classics at Edinburgh, then becoming a primary school teacher. He started out writing surrealist poetry, but later changed his style, characterised by its witty observations. Inheriting a Gaelic heritage from his mother, he became popularly known as the grand old man of Scottish poetry. He died in January 1996.

Robert Minhinnick

Robert Minhinnick still lives in Wales where he writes poems and essays, while his first novel called Sea Holly is out in 2008. He spends lots of time walking by the sea, and if it’s warm, tries swimming. This year he’s lucky because he gets the chance to visit China, the USA and Brazil, to read his work in public.

Adrian Mitchell

Adrian Mitchell was born near Hampstead Heath and was educated by wolves. He writes poems, stories and plays with songs for children and adults. His most recent book of poems is called The Shadow Knows because he is the Shadow Poet Laureate. He has performed his poems on seven continents. He lives with his wife Celia, their dog Daisy the Dog of Peace and their cats Moonlight and Pinky near Hampstead Heath.

Daljit Nagra

Daljit Nagra’s first poetry collection is Look We Have Coming to Dover! and is published by Faber and Faber. His poem, ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover!’ won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem of 2004.

Jacob Polley

Jacob Polley was born in Carlisle, in 1975, and grew up beside the Solway. He went to Great Orton primary school, then Caldew school, then Lancaster University. His two books of poems, The Brink and Little Gods, are published by Picador. His website can be found at www.jacobpolley.com

QBoy

QBoy is a half-Spanish, half-English gay rap artist who reaches audiences all over the globe. His anti-bullying campaign track ‘A Deal With God’ led to him being invited to perform for the UK Government Home and present the documentary Coming Out To Class for Channel 4. Find out more at www.qboy.co.uk

John Siddique

John Siddique is author of The Prize (Rialto,) Poems from a Northern Soul (Crocus Books), editor of Transparency (Crocus Books), and co-author of Four Fathers (ROUTE). His children’s book Don’t Wear it on Your Head (Peepal Tree) was shortlisted for the CLPE Poetry Award. He gives readings, mentors and teaches creative writing in the UK and abroad. www.johnsiddique.co.uk

Lemn Sissay

Lemn Sissay is artist in residence at The Southbank Centre and is published by Canongate books. Sissay has a new collection, Listener, out in 2008. He has four collections of poetry to date and reads his poetry around the world.

Skinnyman

Skinnyman is a founder of British hip hop outfit The Bury Crew in the early ’90s, going on to establish the seminal Mud Family. Since his solo album Council Estate of Mind (Low Life Records, 2004) skinnyman has received attention from UK hip hop radio and press. In 2004, he featured in Tower Block Dreams, a BBC documentary.

Paul Summers

Paul Summers was born in 1967 and has written a number of poetry books, the most recent of which is Big Bella’s Dirty Cafe (Dogeater 2006). He was founding co-editor of the leftfield magazine Billy Liar and a co-director of Liar Inc Ltd, facilitating countless creative projects across the North of England. He has written for TV, film, radio and theatre and has collaborated many times with artists on mixed-media projects.

George Szirtes

George Szirtes has written a dozen books of poetry since 1979, the most recent, Reel, winning the TS Eliot Prize in 2004. He has published about the same number of translations, poetry and fiction, and occasionally writes for The Guardian, The Times etc. He can’t sing, can’t act – but can dance a little.

The poets on the women's side »