Biscuit Poetry Challenge 2011

Gordon Simms was born in Bedfordshire. He has won a number of poetry competitions, an Arvon prize and is a finalist in Aesthetica Creative Works Annual 2011. His poetry has appeared in Envoi, The Interpreter's House, Other Poetry and The New Writer. He initiated the Segora writing competitions in 2007.

His website: Poetry Prose Plays.

(This list is in no particular order of merit)

Anita John writes poetry and short fiction and is a long-term member of the Pentlands Writers Group. More of her work can be found on their website.

Charles Evans was educated at Keele and Oxford, and is a retired Naval Officer and academic. He has held Research Fellowships from the British Academy and the Leverhulme Trust, and has travelled widely in Russia. He is a Churchill Fellow and a Hawthornden Fellow. His poetry has appeared in a wide variety of journals.

David Ford was born in Devon and lives in East London. His work has been widely published in magazines and a pamphlet collection was published by the HappenStance Press in 2010.

Carlotta Miller Johnson: Born in Wisconsin, lived and taught in Tanzania till 1975.
Loves paddling and wild swimming in Northumberland even though the sea and rivers are very cold.
Your Hat was written in a workshop with Kathleen Kenny.

Connie Ramsay Bott grew up in Michigan but has lived in the UK for many years. Her poems and short stories have been published in anthologies and magazines. She teaches Creative Writing.

Louise Hislop is influenced by natural history, particularly geology, anthropology and biology, as well as by personal events. She is trying to identify all the species of bee in her garden while worrying that she is too obsessed by detail.

As a young singer, Kathleen Bainbridge shared bills with Pentangle and Lindisfarne. She was a teacher, then a Gestalt therapist, before retiring to Hexhamshire to read, write, make music and watch animals.

Greta Ross lives in Lincolnshire having retired from medical practice, and has somehow managed her split personality as a committed doctor and a committed poet. Apart from her life as a GP and paediatrician she worked many years in health projects in Russia and Eastern Europe and has used her experience in those countries to inform her poetry.
Greta has published a book of poetry and has taken part in poetry readings in Australia and in London.

Jackie Hinden's published works include a number of short stories, many lyrics set to music, and the libretto of a children's operetta.
She lives in Brighton, and for many years taught Creative Writing for Brighton Adult Education.

Eileen Sutherland is currently writing a book called Changing Gear about a cycle ride she did from the UK to Hotnitsa in Bulgaria in 2006. She is also interested in 'green' building and recently built a strawbale house. Eileen is married to Allan and she divides her time between Warkworth and Hotnitsa.

Rosie Garland has an eclectic writing and performance history, from singer in Goth band The March Violets to burlesque performer Rosie Lugosi the Vampire Queen. She writes poetry and fiction and in 2010 she kicked cancer's arse.

Jenny Morris writes poems and fiction. Her writing has won awards and been published in numerous magazines and anthologies. Her latest poetry collection is Lunatic Moon (Gatehouse Press).

Brian Walter Smith lives in Hexham, Northumberland and after many happy hours composing poems, is delighted to have found some recognition of his artistic worth.

Phil Powley is a retired lecturer in French, living in Hampshire. He contracted the poetry virus 20 years ago and is still in its grip. His principle interests are walking, golfing, gardening and writing.

Geraldine Green has had two collections published, recently completed her third and submitted a PhD in Creative Writing. Her poetry has been translated into German and Rumanian. She's read and been published in the UK, USA, Italy and Greece.
More about Geraldine Green.

Nuri Rosegg is Norwegian and has studied Creative Writing at the Open University (UK). Her poems have received an award or been published in USA, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany and Japan.

Isobel Thrilling was born in Suffolk and raised in Yorkshire. Her latest book The Language Creatures is published by Shearman Books Ltd. She has performed her poems on radio and television and been included in many anthologies.

Sue Vickerman is a previous Biscuit prizewinner, and her poems have appeared in The Rialto, The North, Stand, and Bridport's 2010 shortlist, as well as in her Biscuit collection, The social decline of the oystercatcher. Her novel Special Needs is out now with Cinnamon Press and another is well underway.

Linda Mills lives in Oregan, USA. Linda was born with less than 7% vision; words have always been her gateway to the universe. She has had poetry published in the US, England, Japan, and Taiwan in the past. Having recently retired she can once again focus on her poetry and her husband.