Candlestick Press – 'Instead of a card' poetry pamphlets | UK based independent publisher

Candlestick Press

Biographies

Here you can find out more about the huge range of poets we feature in our pamphlets and the artists whose work appears on our beautiful covers.

We’ve now published poems by over 850 historical and contemporary poets. In our pages you’ll find old favourites alongside twenty-first century voices – everyone from WH Auden to Belinda Zhawi. Although our emphasis is on British poetry, you’ll also find Irish, American and Australian writers. We hope these pages will encourage you to explore further the work of a poet you’ve enjoyed in one of our pamphlets.

  • Sam Goundry Butler

    Sam Goundry Butler is a poet and teacher based in South East London. He is currently studying on the MA Creative Writing and Education programme at Goldsmiths, University of London.

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  • Derrick Buttress

    Derrick Buttress was born in 1932. His poems have been widely published in magazines and in four collections by Shoestring Press; the latest, Welcome to the Bike Factory, in 2015. A memoir, Broxtowe Boy, was published in 2004, and its sequel, Music While You Work, in 2007. Sing to Me (2012) is his first collection of short stories. He has also written plays for BBC TV and Radio.

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  • Lewis Buxton

    Lewis Buxton is a writer and theatre maker whose work has appeared in The Independent, Poetry Review, The Rialto and Ambit. He has won the Winchester Poetry Prize and received the UEA Literary Festival Bursary. His debut collection Boy in Various Poses was published by Nine Arches Press in 2021. He toured his theatre show ‘Workout!’ in 2023 and took FRIEND on the road in 2024.

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  • Lord Byron

    George Gordon Byron (1788 – 1824) inherited his title in 1798, along with his ancestral home of Newstead Abbey in Nottinghamshire. A flamboyant and controversial figure, celebrated for his excesses, he became well-known with the publication of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812. He travelled widely, and lived for some time in Italy where he wrote some of his most famous works, including Don Juan (1819 – 1824). He died in Greece in 1824, supporting the Greek War of Independence.

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  • Jessica Caldwell

    Jessica Caldwell is a Caribbean artist and designer with Latin roots. Her bold, culture-rich patterns blend geometric elements with vintage influences and often include botanical details.  Her work comprises hand-painted items and she also uses linocut.

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  • Alistair Te Ariki Campbell

    Alistair Te Ariki Campbell was a New Zealand poet, playwright and novelist. His collection Mine Eyes Dazzle (Pegasus, 1950) was the first by a Polynesian poet to be published in English. His output spans six decades, with his final collection (written with his wife Meg Campbell) published in 2008 just a year before his death.

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