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.

  • Vievee Francis

    Vievee Francis is an American poet.  Her collections include Blue-Tail Fly (Wayne State University Press, 2006), Horse in the Dark (Northwestern University Press, 2012) and Forest Primeval (Northwestern University Press, 2016). She is an associate professor at Dartmouth College and an associate editor of Callaloo, a journal of African American and African Diaspora Arts & Letters.

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  • Ella Frears

    Ella Frears is a poet and artist born in Cornwall and now based in London. Her debut collection, Shine, Darling, (Offord Road Books, 2020) was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. A pamphlet I AM THE MOTHER CAT (Rough Trade Books 2021) was written as part of her residency at the John Hansard Gallery.

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  • John Freeman

    John Freeman was born in Essex and studied English at Cambridge. He now teaches at Cardiff University. He has published several poetry collections including The Light Is Of Love, I Think: New and Selected Poems (Stride) and A Suite for Summer (Worple). His poems have also appeared in magazines including Iota, Scintilla and Poetry Wales.

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  • Robert Frost

    Robert Frost (1874 – 1963) was born in California and moved to England briefly in 1912, where his first book of poetry, A Boy’s Will, was published in 1913, with the support of Ezra Pound. He moved back to America when War broke out, where he lived on a farm in New Hampshire while undertaking a long teaching career. By the 1920s, he was one of the most celebrated poets in America, and received many awards, including four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry. His work is well known for its realistic depictions of rural life and his command of colloquial speech.

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  • Andrew Fusek-Peters

    Andrew Fusek-Peters has written numerous books of children’s poetry and often collaborates with his wife Polly Peters. Mad, Bad and Dangerously Haddock was published by Lion in 2006. He has read his poems on radio and TV and frequently visits schools where his readings are accompanied by musical instruments including a didgeridoo.

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  • Jacqueline Gabbitas

    Jacqueline Gabbitas was born in Worksop and is a co-editor of Brittle Star magazine for new writing, as well as being a published poet. Her collections include Earthworks and Small Grass (Stonewood Press), the latter including artwork by Frances Barry. Her poetry had been widely published in magazines and anthologies, including in Entering the Tapestry (Enitharmon, 2005).

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