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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Ciaran Berry
Ciaran Berry was born in Donegal, Ireland and now lives in the US. He has published three poetry collections including most recently Liner Notes (The Gallery Press, 2018). His style is often conversational, but he is able to vividly capture other lives, such as those of wild creatures.
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James Berry
James Berry (1924 – 2017) was a Jamaican poet who settled in Britain in the 1940s. His poetry is notable for using a mixture of standard English and Jamaican Patois. He was at the forefront of championing British/West Indian writing and published numerous poetry collections and books for children in his long life. Bloodaxe published his Selected Poems (A Story I Am In) in 2011.
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Liz Berry
Liz Berry was born in the Black Country and now lives in Birmingham. Her work is recognisable for its distinctive usage of Black Country dialect and vocabulary. Her pamphlet, The Patron Saint of Schoolgirls, was published in 2010 and her debut collection, Black Country (2014), won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection in 2014.
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Wendell Berry
Wendell Berry is a prolific American poet and novelist who has published over 50 books of poetry, essays and fiction. He lives in Kentucky where he has run a farm for over 40 years and is also a passionate environmentalist. He has won numerous awards including the TS Eliot Prize and in 2010 received the National Humanities Medal from Barack Obama. His most recent poetry collection is This Day: Collected & New Sabbath Poems (Counterpoint LLC, 2014).
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John Betjeman
John Betjeman (1906 – 1984) was a popular poet, writer and broadcaster, and passionate defender of Victorian architecture. His Collected Poems was published in 1958 and his verse autobiography, Summoned by Bells, in 1960. He was knighted in 1969, and became Poet Laureate in 1972.
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Kathryn Bevis
Kathryn Bevis (1975 – 2024) was an award-winning poet whose pamphlet, Flamingo, (Seren) was one of the Poetry Society’s ‘Books of the Year’ for 2022 and was shortlisted for the Saboteur Award for Best Poetry Pamphlet. Her full collection, The Butterfly House, was published by Seren in 2024.
Poems by Kathryn won the Wales Poetry Award, the Crysse Morrison Award, and the Second Light Competition. One of her poems was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Single Poem – Written – in 2023.
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