Gillian Clarke (born 1937)

Gillian was born in Cardiff to Welsh-speaking parents, though she grew up speaking English and only later learned Welsh herself. She has written many poetry collections for adults and children, as well as plays for theatre and radio. She translates poetry and prose from Welsh, and her own work has been translated into ten languages. Gillian was the National Poet of Wales from 2008 to 2016. Her prize-winning poems are studied on the GCSE and A-Level syllabus, and she performs regularly for Poetry Live!

In a Cardiff Arcade, 1952 is here.

Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861–1907)

Mary was the great-great-niece of Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, but was better known during her life for her eerie, imaginative novels. She was too shy to publish her poetry under the famous family name, so she did so under the pseudonym ‘Anodos’. Her poetry only reached a wide audience after her death when another poet, Henry Newbolt, published them under her real name. Mary never married and devoted most of her time to lecturing at the Working Women’s College in London. I Had a Boat is here

Charly Cox

Charly is a writer, producer and poet. Her writing focuses on destigmatizing mental health and the coming-of-age of a young woman surviving the modern world. In January 2017, she published her first poem on Instagram, showing her internet followers her poetry for the first time. Named one of the 20 power players to watch out for in 2018 by Elle magazine, Charly has published two books: She Must Be Mad (2018) and Validate Me (2019).

kids is here.

Adelaide Crapsey (1878–1914)

Adelaide was born in Brooklyn Heights, New York. She studied archaeology in Rome and taught history, literature and poetry. Having concealed her poor health from her family as long as she could, she eventually died of tuberculosis in 1914. Two books, a poetry collection entitled Verse and a study on English Metrics, were published after her death. Although she wrote fewer than a hundred poems, she wrote right up until her death in hospital – often, understandably, on the theme of dying. Inspired in part by Japanese three-line haiku poems, Adelaide invented the cinquain, a poetic form with five lines. Release / Laurel in the Berkshires are here and here.

Sarah Crossan (born 1981)

Sarah holds degrees in Creative Writing and Philosophy and Literature, and trained as an English and drama teacher. Her novels Apple and Rain and The Weight of Water were both shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, and One (2015) was awarded the Carnegie Medal along with The Bookseller Prize for Young Adult fiction, the CLiPPA Poetry Award and the Irish Children’s Book of the Year. In 2018, she was appointed Laureate na nÓg, or Irish Children’s laureate. Sarah often speaks in schools promoting reading and creative writing.

In Wellies is here.

Emily Wilding Davison (1872–1913)

Emily was one of the most active and militant of the suffragettes. When peaceful campaigning had no effect, she turned to fierce action to fight for women’s votes, from smashing windows and setting fire to post boxes to hiding overnight in the Houses of Parliament. She was imprisoned on numerous occasions. Her motive for running on to the racetrack during the Epsom Derby in June 1913 is unknown. She may have meant to attach a suffragette flag to one of the horses, but King George V’s horse trampled her and she later died of her injuries. Her coffin was accompanied by battalions of suffragettes and their supporters at every stage of its journey from Epsom to her final resting place of Newcastle. ‘L’Envoi’ was published in Holloway Jingles, a collection of verses written by suffragettes incarcerated in Holloway prison in 1912, smuggled out and published by the Glasgow branch of the Women’s Social and Political Union.