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Personal profile

Scholarly biography

My poetry focuses in particular on mental health, loss, the body, queer politics, queer history and Brighton as a centre for unique LGBT+ subcultures. I have written three collections. The Frost Fairs (Salt, 2011) won the Polari First Book Prize and was a Book of the Year for The Independent and a summer read for The Observer. My second, Spacecraft (Penned in the Margins, 2016) was shortlisted for the Ledbury-Forte prize and was a summer read for The Guardian. My latest collection, Reckless Paper Birds (Penned in the Margins, 2019) was recently shortlisted for the Costa. 

Education/Academic qualification

PhD, Disputable Friends: Rhetoric and Amicitia in English Renaissance Writing, 1579-1625, University of Sussex

Award Date: 1 Jun 2006

Keywords

  • PE English
  • Queer Studies
  • Queer Theory
  • Poetry
  • Creative Writing