Sir Andrew Motion
Sir Andrew Motion was knighted for his services to literature in 2009, and was Britain’s Poet Laureate from 1999 – 2009. He is the current Chairman of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Motion’s poetry has received the Arvon/ Observer Prize, the John Llewelyn-Rhys Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and recently co-founded The Poetry Archive.
His new book, The Cinder Path (Faber), has been shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry.
“His voice is unlike any other other.” Lavinia Greenlaw, New Statesman and Society
Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen was the first poet to hold the role of Children’s Laureate (2007 – 2009). He is one of Britain’s best-selling children’s writers, and has written more than 140 books, including favourites such as We’re Going on A Bear Hunt, and Mustard, Custard Grumble Belly and Gravy.
Michael is renowned for his enthusiastic appearances which inspire children with poetry and language.
Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott is one of Britain’s leading poets and the current President of the Poetry Society. She has won the National Poetry Prize twice and is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London.
Her first collection, Electroplating the Baby (1988), was awarded a Commonwealth Prize, and My Life Asleep (1998) won the Forward Prize for Best Collection. Her latest book of poems, Of Mutability, is published by Faber and Faber, in July 2010.
“Shapcott is gifted and original and it is in work such as hers that the future health of poetry needs to be sought.” Sean O’Brien, Sunday Times
Don Paterson
Don Paterson was made an OBE in 2008, and his most recent collection, Rain (2009), won the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.
He is Poetry Editor for Picador and teaches on the MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews. His six poetry collections include Landing Light (2003), which was awarded the Whitbread Poetry Award and the TS Eliot Prize, which Paterson is the first poet to have won twice. He edited the book Last Words with Jo Shapcott.
“Rain is a truly important book, not only in the development of this must-read poet, but because it engages with the rough and tumble of life in a way we recognise as true.” Fiona Sampson, The Independent
/>
Jenny Joseph
Jenny Joseph’s poetry was first published in the 1950s and in 1996 her poem, Warning, was voted the nation’s favourite post-war poem in a BBC poll.
Over the years she has collaborated with painters, photographers, musicians, dancers and actors, and has worked with poetry speakers and voice teachers to inspire the learning and speaking of poetry.
Jenny’s latest book, Nothing Like Love, gathers together some of her best-loved early poems, previously uncollected poems, and new poems published for the first time.
John Siddique
John Siddique’s most recent book Recital (Salt) has been described as ‘one of the most important British poetry books of the last twenty years’ (Professor Lauri Ramey, California State University at Los Angeles).
He has worked on a number of innovative poetry projects, including a tour with Faber and Faber and The Reading Agency that encourages non-poetry audiences to see poetry with fresh eyes.
Well-known for his ability to engage young people with poetry and language, John has run workshops at hundreds of schools across the UK.
Jenny Swann
Jenny Swann is a poet, lecturer and publisher based in Nottinghamshire.
She runs the small local independent poetry publishing house Candlestick Press which publishes beautiful poetry pamphlets designed to be read at one sitting.
With original and inspiring titles, including Ten Poems About Bicycles and Twelve Poems About Birds, the pamphlets have received acclaim in national and local press,
"...Candlestick Press - in my view the most original way of delivering poetry since Poems on the Underground..." Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate
