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Simon Armitage was born and grew up in West Yorkshire. He is the recipient of numerous prizes and awards, including the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and the PEN Prize for Translation.
He has published over a dozen poetry collections, including Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems, as well as acclaimed medieval translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Owl and the Nightingale. His recent book, Blossomise, was an instant Sunday Times bestseller. In 2025, he will release two new poetry collections: Dwell (May) and New Cemetery (September).
Armitage also writes, records, and performs with the band LYR and has received an Ivor Novello Award for his songwriting. His book Never Good with Horses features his song lyrics for the first time, celebrating his ear for the music of language. He is also the author of two novels and three non-fiction bestsellers: All Points North, Walking Home, and Walking Away.
A regular broadcaster who also writes for television and radio, Armitage presented the popular BBC Radio 4 series The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed and, more recently, My Poetry and Other Animals. An award-winning dramatist, his plays The Last Days of Troy and his contemporary spin on Hansel and Gretel were performed at Shakespeare’s Globe.
Armitage is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. A Vertical Art brings together the vibrant and engaging lectures from his tenure as Oxford Professor of Poetry (2015–2019). He was appointed as Poet Laureate in 2019.
For more information, visit www.simonarmitage.com.