Kate Clanchy is the author of several prize-winning collections of poetry, including the acclaimed Slattern (1995), which won the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and a Somerset Maugham Award; Samarkand (1999), which was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Poetry Collection and won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award; and the highly-acclaimed Newborn (2004). She has also written for radio and broadcasts on the World Service and BBC Radio 3 and 4. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an MBE. Author photo © George Torode