Sackett, Frances

Born in Chirk, Clwyd and raised in north Wales, Frances Sackett was educated at the University of Manchester and has recently completed a degree in Literature with emphasis on medieval and Anglo-Saxon studies. Her prize-winning poems have been published in many journals. She is married with two daughters and lives in Marple, Stockport, where she works in a bookshop.

Sampson, Fiona

Fiona Sampson has published ten books, including four collections of poetry, philosophy of language and books on the writing process; she is also the Founder-Editor of Orient Express. She has won many awards, including the Zlaten Prsten of Macedonia, and been translated into more than a dozen languages. She is the Editor of Poetry Review.

Seatter, Robert

After studying English at Oxford University, Robert Seatter worked variously as an EFL teacher in Italy and France, an actor, a journalist, in publishing and broadcasting. He lives in London where he now works for the BBC. His poetry has been widely published, has won numerous awards and has been featured on radio, television and London buses.

Sheers, Owen

Owen Sheers was born in 1974, spent a portion of his childhood abroad, then returned to live on a farm in Abergavenny when he was nine. Educated at Oxford, with an MA in Creative Writing from the UEA writing programme, he has worked in television in London and Wales. He hit the limelight in 2000 when for The Times of January 1st, 2000, David Bailey photographed the foremost practitioners in the arts and sciences together with their choice of the person they expected to carry the discipline forward: Poet Laureate Andrew Motion selected Owen Sheers as the poet to watch. His first book was shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize Best First Collection and ACW Book of the Year 2001. Skirrid Hill, his second collection, won a Somerset Maugham Prize in 2006 and was longlisted for Welsh Book of the Year.

To find out more about Owen Sheers visit his website www.owensheers.co.uk

Shiel, Derek

Derek Shiel is a painter, sculptor and writer. Born and bought up in Dublin, he was educated at fettes College and the Edinburgh College of Art. A year's travelling scholarship took him to the USA before he moved to London.

Simmonds, Kathryn

Kathryn Simmonds was born in Hertfordshire in 1972, she has an MA in writing from the University of East Anglia and currently lives in London where she works as an editor. She received an Eric Gregory Award in 2002 and her pamphlet Snug, was published in 2004. Her poems have appeared widely in magazines and she was winner of the 2006 Poetry London Competition and the 2007 Wigtown Poetry Competition.

Skidmore, Ian

Ian Skidmore was for many years a neighbour of Kyffin Williams on the island of Anglesey. A former Fleet Street journalist and popular broadcaster on BBC Radio Wales, he now lives in retirement in the east of England.

Skoulding, Zoë

Zoë Skoulding’s most recent collection is The Mirror Trade (Seren, 2004), and her next book, ’Remains of a Future City’, will be published by Seren in 2008. She co-edits the literary magazine ’Skald’ with Ian Davidson and their collection of collaborative poems, ’Dark Wires’, was published by West House Books in 2007. She holds an AHRC Fellowship in the Creative and Performing Arts in the School of English at Bangor University where she also lectures part-time in the School of Lifelong Learning. Her psychogeographical music project with Dewi Evans and Alan Holmes is at www.parkingnonstop.com

Smith, Dai

Prof Dai Smith is Pro Vice Chancellor of the University of Glamorgan and formerly Head of Broadcasting (English) at BBC Wales. He has written extensively on Welsh history, in particular Aneurin Bevan, Raymond Williams and wider cultural facets such as rugby.

Smith, Stuart

Stuart Smith was born in Epsom in 1965. He was educated at Farnborough Sixth Form College and at Gwent College where he completed a Degree in Graphic Design. He now lives and photographs in London.