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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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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Penny Sharman
Penny Sharman is a published poet, photographer, artist and therapist. She is inspired by wild landscapes and relationships between the seen and unseen. Penny has an MA in Creative Writing from Edge Hill University. She has had poems published in magazines such as The Interpreter’s House, Strix, The North, Finished Creatures, Orbis, Ink Sweat &Tears & Mslexia. Her books Fair Ground, Swim With Me In Deep Water, The Day before Joy, Catching the Heather & The Ash of Time, Sunbathing with Fishermen are available to buy from her website. Penny is Editor of Obsessed with Pipework Poetry Magazine.
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Clare Shaw
Clare Shaw was born in Burnley. She has published three collections with Bloodaxe: Straight Ahead (2006), Head On (2012), and Flood (2018). Her fourth collection Towards a General Theory of Love was awarded a Northern Writer’s Award and will be published by Bloodaxe in 2022. Clare is an Associate Fellow of the Royal Literary Fund, a co-Director of the Kendal Poetry Festival; and a regular tutor for the Arvon Foundation.
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Judith Shaw
Judith Shaw has lived in various places in the UK but has been settled in St Leonards on Sea since 2004 when she returned from Iceland, where she lived and worked for a year. She has poems published by The Frogmore Papers, The Fib Review and Obsessed with Pipework, and was the Featured Poet in an edition of Orbis. She is a psychotherapist and dyslexia specialist and is also a painter and printmaker.
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James Sheard
James Sheard was born in Cyprus and spent his childhood abroad, mainly in Singapore and Germany. He is the author of three collections of poetry, all published by Jonathan Cape: Scattering Eva (2005), shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, Dammtor (2010) and The Abandoned Settlements (2017) which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. He is Lecturer in Creative Writing at Keele University.
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