Poet Laureate
Simon Armitage is the current UK Poet Laureate and was elected Oxford Professor of Poetry (2015-2019). His numerous accolades include an Ivor Novello Award for song-writing in the BAFTA-winning film Feltham Sings and the 2018 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. He also writes extensively for television and radio, and is the author of two novels and the non-fiction bestsellers All Points North, Walking Home and Walking Away. His theatre works include The Last Days of Troy, performed at Shakespeare’s Globe, London, in 2014. He was appointed Professor of Poetry at Leeds University in 2017.