Carol Rumens was born in South London in 1944. She started writing at school and went on to study – and drop out from – Philosophy at London University. Her many publications include more than a dozen individual collections of poetry, contributions to several books of translation, notably from the Russian, a novel, a Collected Poems 1968-2004, and, in 2007, a volume bringing together three lectures on poetry, Self into Song . She has also edited a number of volumes including The Chatto Book of Post-Feminist Poetry. Her prizes include first prize in the BT section of The National Poetry Competition, runner-up in The Cardiff International Poetry Competition (both in 2001) and first prize in the Peterloo Poetry Competition, 2002. She has held residencies in Kent, Belfast, Cork, Stockholm, Hull and currently has a Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Bangor. For more information about Carol and her work visit her website at www.carolrumens.co.uk