Candlestick Press
Biographies
Here you can find out more about the huge range of poets we feature in our pamphlets and the artists whose work appears on our beautiful covers.
We’ve now published poems by almost 700 historical and contemporary poets. In our pages you’ll find old favourites alongside twenty-first century voices – everyone from WH Auden to Benjamin Zephaniah. Although our emphasis is on British poetry, you’ll also find Irish, American and Australian writers.
We hope these pages will encourage you to explore further the work of a poet you’ve enjoyed in one of our pamphlets.
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Ian Serraillier
Ian Serraillier (1912 – 1994) was a British novelist and poet. Admired for his children’s books, including The Silver Sword, which was adapted for television, he founded the New Windmill Series of children’s books with his wife in 1948.
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Kadija Sesay
Kadija Sesay was born in London and is a poet, editor and short story writer of Sierra Leonian descent. She is co-director of Peepal Tree Press’s writer development programme and her own poems and short stories have appeared in a wide range of publications. Her full collection Irki was published by Peepal Tree in 2013.
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Vikram Seth
Vikram Seth was born in India. After training as an economist, he turned to writing novels and poets. His novel A Suitable Boy (1993) was winner of the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize, and An Equal Music (1999) likewise attracted very favourable reviews. He also writes travel books and poetry, including The Humble Administrator’s Garden and All You Who Sleep Tonight: Poems (1990).
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Anne Sexton
Anne Sexton was an American poet whose work is usually grouped with other confessional writers such as Sylvia Plath and Robert Lowell. She struggled with depression for much of her life and took up writing after being encouraged to do so by her therapist. Her first collection was To Bedlam and Part Way Back (1960) and her final one, The Death Notebooks, was published in 1974 (the year in which she committed suicide).
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William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) is widely considered the greatest writer in the English Language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. Known as ‘The Bard of Avon’, he was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon and also wrote many poems, including his famous sonnets. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as ‘The First Folio’.
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Jo Shapcott
Jo Shapcott is currently President of the Poetry Society, and is the author of several award-winning poetry collections. She has written in collaboration with a number of musicians and is also known for her critical work and translations. Her latest poetry collection is Of Mutability (2010).
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