George Elliott Clarke:
The author of fourteen poetry “projects,” George Elliott Clarke is the Poet Laureate of Canada (2016-17) and was the Poet Laureate of Toronto (2012-15). An “Africadian” of Nova Scotian roots, Clarke’s work has seen translation into books published in China, Italy, and Romania. A recipient of many honours, Clarke’s latest verse is Extra Illicit Sonnets (Exile, 2015), a collection of amatory lyrics.
Lorna Crozier:
Lorna Crozier has received many awards, including the Governor General’s and B.C.’s Lieutenant’s Governor’s Award for Lifetime Achievement, as well as five honourary doctorates. An Officer of the Order of Canada, she has published 16 books of poetry, the latest called The Wrong Cat, and The Wild in You, a collaboration with renowned conservations and photographer Ian McAllister. Her memoir, Small Beneath the Sky, was listed as Amazon’s 100 books you must read in a liftetime. Her poems have been translated into several languages, including a book-length translation in French and another in Spanish, and she has read in every continent, except Antarctica. She lives on Vancouver Island with Patrick Lane, two turtles, many fish and two fine cats.
Patricia Debney:
Patricia Debney’s recent publications include Gestation (Shearsman Chapbooks, 2014) and a collection of prose poems, Littoral (Shearsman Books, 2013). Her first collection, How to Be a Dragonfly (Smith Doorstop Books), won the 2004 Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition. The poems featured here are from her next collection, Baby, which is published by Liquorice Fish Books (an imprint of Cinnamon Press) in 2016. A former Canterbury Laureate, she is Reader in Creative Writing at the University of Kent.
Pia Dent:
Pia Dent was born in New York City. She is a writer, radio and film producer living in London. Her theatrical work has appeared at the Et Cetera Theatre, the Iris Theatre and Theatre 503. She has a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Oxford.
Samir Guglani:
Sam Guglani is a Consultant Oncologist and is Director of Medicine Unboxed, a project he founded in 2009 to engage health professionals and the public in conversations around the morality, politics and values of medicine, illuminated through the arts. He is a writer of short fiction and poetry. His poems have appeared in Shearsman and a number of poems, under the title A Field Like This, were shortlisted for the Cinnamon Pamphlet Prize in 2015. He is currently writing a collection of linked short stories, all set within a single hospital, titled Histories. He completed a Masters in Creative Writing at Oxford in 2014.
Armando Iannucci:
Armando Iannucci is a writer and broadcaster, who has written and produced numerous critically acclaimed television and radio comedy shows. The screenplay for his film In The Loop (starring Peter Capaldi, Tom Hollander and James Gandolfini) was nominated for an Oscar at the Academy Awards, and his iconic series for BBC, The Thick of It, was nominated for 13 BAFTA Awards, winning 5 during its four series run. The latest series of Armando’s critically acclaimed HBO comedy Veep took home a number of Emmy awards, including Outstanding Comedy Series and Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series. He is currently adapting a new version of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield for the big screen, as well as feature film about the death of Stalin.
Pippa Little:
Pippa Little was born in Tanzania, raised in Scotland and now lives in Northumberland. She is the recipient of an Eric Gregory Award, The Andrew Waterhouse Prize, The Biscuit International Poetry Prize and The Norman MacCaig Centenary Poetry Prize. Her work has appeared in Magma, Poetry Review, Orbis, Northwords Now, New Edinburgh Review and many other text journals and online. Her pamphlet The Spar Box (Vane Women, 2006) was a Poetry Book Society Pamphlet Choice. She was joint first prize-winner of The University of Glasgow James McCash Scots Poetry Competition, 2012.
Jacob Strautmann:
Jacob Strautmann’s work has appeared in Salamander Magazine, The Boston Globe, Agni Online, The Appalachian Journal, Solstice, Jam Tarts, Quiddity and is forthcoming from Unsplendid. He is a contributing editor for Salamander Magazine. He teaches creative writing at Boston University, where he is also the Managing Director of Boston Playwrights’ Theatre.
Tamar Yoseloff:
Tamar Yoseloff’s fifth collection, A Formula for Night: New and Selected Poems, was published by Seren in 2015. She is also the author of Formerly, a chapbook incorporating photographs by Vici MacDonald (Hercules Editions, 2012) shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award; two collaborative editions with the artist Linda Karshan; and a book with the artist David Harker. She is a London-based freelance tutor in creative writing, and runs site-specific writing courses for galleries such as the Hayward, the Royal Academy and Tate.