Carol Ann Duffy

In her first collection Standing Female Nude (1985) she often uses the voices of outsiders while Selling Manhattan (1987) contains more personal verse. Her later collections are The Other Country (1990) and Mean Time (1993).

A number of very successful children's collections include 'Meeting Midnight' (1999) and 'The Oldest Girl in the World' (2000). 'The World's Wife' (1999) saw her retelling famous stories and fables - Midas, King Kong, Elvis - as wry and exuberant 'feminist' documents from the point of view of real or imagined women. Her most recent book 'Feminine Gospels' (2002) continues this vein, showing an increased interest in long narrative poems, accessible in style and often surreal in their imagery. She is one of the few poets in the UK to combine academic integrity with accessibility and popularity.