Bryony Littlefair

Bryony Littlefair is a poet, community centre worker and workshop facilitator born in Watford, currently based in London. After studying English Literature and Philosophy at the University of York, she began pursuing writing seriously in 2015 when she discovered the contemporary poetry landscape on the internet, particularly the American lyric poets. She developed her craft through attending classes at the Poetry School and regularly visiting the Poetry Library.

Her poems have since appeared in magazines including Rialto, Ambit, Magma and The Moth and have been anthologised in various collections. Her pamphlet Giraffe (Seren) won the Mslexia Pamphlet Prize in 2017. She was shortlisted for the inaugural Rebecca Swift Foundation Women Poets’ Prize in 2018 and 2020 and in 2019 received the Moth Retreat Bursary Award. She is a member of the UniSlam post-emerging cohort for mid-career poets. Her forthcoming collection Escape Room (Seren, 2022), was funded by a Arts Council England project grant.

She has had various jobs including cupcake baker, dementia support worker, and Project Coordinator for The Reader Organisation, setting up Shared Reading groups for people aged 75+ in Croydon. She currently works at a community centre in Kilburn and teaches Creative Writing for Camden Adult Learning, alongside facilitating poetry workshops freelance for Create and other charitable organisations. She is particularly interested in the intersection between poetry and mental health/illness, and is studying for a Foundation Certificate in Psychotherapy and Counselling at Regents University.

Bryony’s debut collection Escape Room was funded by a Arts Council England project grant and is forthcoming in October 2022.