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 800 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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Alice Maher
Alice Maher was born in County Tipperary, Ireland. She is widely celebrated for her work across a range of media, including sculpture and photography, as well for her remarkable drawings and paintings. The long flowing hair that features in the Ten Poems from Ireland cover image ‘Born Seeing’ is a recurring motif in her work. Maher was elected to Asodána, which recognises leading Irish artists and writers and has completed residencies at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and in Paris. Her solo exhibition ‘Glorious Maids of the Charnel House’ was held at the Purdy Hicks Gallery in London in 2016.
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Derek Mahon
Derek Mahon (1941 – 2020) was born in Belfast and was regarded as one of the most significant and innovative poets of his generation. As well as award-winning essays and translations, he published many poetry collections including Life on Earth (2008) and An Autumn Wind (2010), both with The Gallery Press. A New Selected Poems was published by Faber in 2016.
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Nick Makoha
Nick Makoha published his debut collection Kingdom of Gravity in 201. It was shortlisted for the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection and was a Guardian’s Book of the Year. He won the 2015 Brunel International African Poetry Prize and the 2016 Toi Derricotte & Cornelius Eady Prize for his pamphlet Resurrection Man. His poems have appeared in numerous journals including the Cambridge Review, the New York Times, Poetry Review, TriQuarterly Review, Boston Review, Callaloo and Wasafiri. He is a Trustee for the Arvon Foundation and the Ministry of Stories, a member of the Malika’s Poetry Kitchen collective and founder of The Obsidian Foundation.
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Osip Mandelstam
Osip Mandelstam (1891 – 1938) is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. He studied at the Sorbonne, the University of Heidelberg and the University of St. Petersburg but gave up his studies to write Stone (1913), a collection heavily influenced by Russian Symbolism. His second, Tristia (1922), firmly established his reputation. He spent his latter years serving sentences for counter-revolutionary activities in various work camps and died in captivity.
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Freya Manfred
Freya Manfred is an American writer and teacher who has published nine collections of poetry, most recently Loon in Late November Water (Red Dragonfly Press, 2018). She has also written a memoir Raising Twins: A True-Life Adventure. Her themes range from nature to human relationships, the mystery of dreams, love, longing, illness and death.
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Aoife Mannix
Aoife Mannix is an Irish poet and writer who was born in Sweden. She grew up in Dublin, Ottawa and New York before moving to the UK. Her poetry collections include The Elephant in the Corner (2005), Growing Up An Alien (2007), Turn the Clocks Upside Down (2008), and Cocktails from the Ceiling (2013). She is also the author of a novel Heritage of Secrets (reissued 2023) and several libretti. Her pamphlet Alice under the Knife won the James Tate Poetry Prize 2021. She has a PhD in creative writing from Goldsmiths, University of London.
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