Holly Pester grew up in the West Midlands and now lives in Colchester where she works as a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre at the University of Essex, and where she was recently the UCU branch secretary. She has held fellowships and residencies with the Wellcome Collection, the Women’s Art Library, and Hawthornden Foundation, and has written across forms including works for radio, sound art, performance and essays. Her books include Eclogues for Idle Workers (BBC Radio 4 and Distance No Object, 2018), Comic Timing (Granta, 2021), and a novel, The Lodgers (Granta, 2024). Cafés is her first book with Fitzcarraldo Editions. Author photo © Eleanor Vonne Brown
Shortlisted Works
Related News Stories
We’re delighted to announce the T. S. Eliot Prize 2026 Shortlist – ten exciting collections of ‘linguistic disruption, personal reflection [and] humorous lyricism’. They are books, says Leontia Flynn, Chair of judges, that ‘share a determination to meet the challenges faced in difficult times with closer attention to language’. The...
Get your tickets now for our annual celebration of the best of British and Irish poetry, the prestigious T. S. Eliot Prize Shortlist Readings at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall on Sunday 17 January 2027. You won’t want to miss performances from the shortlisted poets, as chosen by judges...
