Jen Hadfield (°1978) grew up in the north of England but lives in Shetland. She tutors, and performs her poetry internationally. In early 2013, she visited Kurdistan as part of the British Council and Firefly International's poetry translation/cultural exchange project 'Reel Iraq', and she was in New Zealand as part of the Scottish Poetry Library's Commonwealth Poets United in March 2014. She has won numerous awards for her work, including an Eric Gregory Award in 2003, and the 2012 Edwin Morgan Poetry Competition for her poem The Kids in 2012. Of her first two books, Almanacs (2005, Bloodaxe Books) and Nigh-No-Place (2008, Bloodaxe Books), the latter won the T.S.Eliot Prize in 2008, making her the youngest poet ever to win the prize. Her third and latest poetry book, Byssus, was published by Picador in February 2014. Ever curious about the dramatic and poetic possibilities of everyday language, she's excited to be involved in a music theatre project for the first time.
