‘’

Theophilus Kwek currently lives in Singapore and began writing when he was a student at Raffles Institution. He has published three poetry collections, most recently Giving Ground (Ethos Books, 2016).  He is a co-Editor of Oxford Poetry and also co-edited Flight, an anthology of poetry in response to the European refugee crisis, published by the Oxford Students’ Oxfam Group.

Vanessa Lampert is a poet and acupuncturist from Oxfordshire. Her debut pamphlet On Long Loan was published by Live Canon and her first full collection will be published by Seren in Spring 2023. Vanessa has been published widely, including in Magma, The Moth, Spoonfeed, Quince and The Oxford Times. She has an MA in Writing Poetry from Newcastle University and Poetry School London.

Philip Larkin (1922 – 85) was a major British poet famed for his “piquant mixture of lyricism and discontent” (Jean Hartley, Marvell Press).  Born in Coventry, he studied English at the University of Oxford, and worked as a librarian, most notably at the library of the University of Hull from 1955.  His collection of poetry, The North Ship (1945), The Less Deceived (1955), The Whitsun Weddings (1965) and High Windows (1974), established him as a leading and much-loved poet, despite his relatively slim output.  He was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1965 and offered – though he declined the offer – the post of Poet Laureate in 1984.

Leah Larwood is a poet, magazine writer and trainee gestalt psychotherapist and poetry therapist. Her work has been widely published by a number of literary magazines and placed in various competitions. Her poems often explore dreams and sleep and have been described as “dark, mythical and haunting”. She lives on the edge of the Norfolk Broads with her partner, eight year-old daughter and their chatty chocolate-point Siamese.

leahlarwood.co.uk

Michael Laskey is a British poet who founded the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in Suffolk where he is now based. For many years he worked as a secondary school teacher and in further education. He has published several pamphlets and four full collections, most recently The Man Alone: New and Selected Poems (Smith Doorstop, 2008).

Tariq Latif was born in Pakistan. He studied Physics at Sheffield University before joining the family printing business in Manchester, where he worked for fifteen years. He now works part-time in telephone sales on the West Coast of Scotland, where he takes the landscape as inspiration for his verse. His most recent collection is The Minister’s Garden, published by Arc Publications (2008).