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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Giles Watson
Giles Watson was born in the UK but emigrated to Australia at the age of one and lived there for 25 years. He is an author and painter, writing essays on nature, folklore and medieval visual culture. His most recent publication is Saints, Birds and Devils (Lulu, 2023) which pairs poems about the relationships between medieval people and birds with illustrations inspired by the bestiaries. He returned to England in early adulthood, living in Durham, the Isles of Scilly and rural Oxfordshire, before returning to live in Western Australia in 2013. Much of his poetry is redolent of the landscapes of these places.
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Jason Watts
Jason Watts was born in Liverpool and raised in Glasgow where he studied English Literature and Language with Philosophy at the city’s university. A number of his poems have appeared in magazines including Magma, Obsessed With Pipework, Poetry Scotland, Smiths Knoll and Versal, been anthologised in Mr Barton Isn’t Paying and nothing left to burn and been placed or commended in competitions: his poem ‘Irene’ won the Plough Prize (short poem) in 2007, and ‘How You Prepare to Go to Church’ was a runner-up in the 2011 Ragged Raven Press competition. His most recent pamphlet collection, Nothing is Looking was published by Longhouse in Vermont, USA. He lives on the Isle of Arran off the West coast of Scotland with his wife Anne and daughter Connie, where he works as a self-employed handyman.
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Stephen Watts
Stephen Watts is a poet and translator based in East London with family roots in the Italian Alps. He twice came second in the National Poetry Competition and has published numerous full collections, most recently Ancient Sunlight (Enitharmon, 2014). Republic of Dogs / Republic of Birds is a recent prose work, first written on a typewriter in the 1980s and lost for over 30 years before it was finally published by Test Centre Publications.
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Christine Webb
Christine Webb was born in the Midlands, but has lived in the south of England for much of her life. She has taught Drama part-time at university level, worked for an examination board and taught English to international graduate students. Her first collection, After Babel, was published in 2004.
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Julia Webb
Julia Webb is a poet, editor and creative writing tutor. Her first full poetry collection Bird Sisters was published by Nine Arches Press in 2016. Her poems have been published widely in magazines and in 2011 she won the Poetry Society Stanza competition with her prose poem ‘Lent.’ She runs the Norwich Poetry Book Group.
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John Wedgwood Clarke
John Wedgwood Clarke was born in Cornwall and trained as an actor before going on to study literature. His debut pamphlet Sea Swim was published by Valley Press in 2012, followed by a full-length collection, Ghost Pot. His second collection Landfill (Valley Press, 2017) was largely inspired by a residency at Scarborough’s municipal dump.
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