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.

  • Nicola Daly

    Nicola Daly studied English and History at Wrexham and now lives in Chester. She has had several poems and short stories published in small press magazines. In 2002 her science fiction novel, Thinking Of England, was published by Pegasus.

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  • Barbara Daniels

    Barbara Daniels has lived much of her life in Wales and her award-winning poems are regularly published in a number of magazines. She is the author of six poetry collections, including Take Off (2002) and The Cartographer Sleeps (2005), published by Shoestring Press.

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  • Kerry Darbishire

    Kerry Darbishire is a songwriter and poet who lives and writes in a remote area of Cumbria. She has published two full poetry collections with Indigo Dreams: A Lift of Wings (2014) and Distance Sweet on my Tongue (2018).  She co-edited the Handstand Press Cumbrian Poetry Anthology, This Place I Know. Handstand Press also published Kay’s Ark, an account of Kerry’s mother’s life. Kerry regularly reads her work at poetry events and is a member of Dove Cottage Poets.

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  • Miriam Darlington

    Miriam Darlington is a writer and poet. She has published two works of non-fiction: Otter Country (Granta, 2013) and Owl Sense (Guardian Faber, 2018) as well as a poetry collection Windfall (Overstep Books, 2008). She is also a regular columnist for The Times’s Nature Notebook. She works as a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Plymouth and lives in Devon with her family and various animals.

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  • Mahmoud Darwish

    Mahmoud Darwish (1941 – 2008) was a Palestinian poet who lived for many years in exile in Beirut and Paris. He published more than 30 poetry collections and several prose works and received many awards. He was considered to be a ‘resistance poet’ and his early work reflects his unhappiness at the occupation of his native land. He was placed under house arrest when his poem ‘Identity Card’ was turned into a protest song.

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  • Elizabeth Daryush

    Elizabeth Daryush (1887 – 1977) was the daughter of British poet laureate Robert Bridges and had a privileged upbringing in Edwardian England. Her poetry is often traditional in style, although her later work was influenced by the years she spent living in Persia and explored issues of social injustice. Her Collected Poems was published by Carcanet in 1976.

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