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.

  • Fred D’Aguiar

    Fred D’Aguiar is a British poet, playwright and novelist now based in the US. He was born in London to Guyanese parents and grew up in Guyana before returning to London for his education.  His memoir Year of Plagues was published by Carcanet in 2021. His most recent collection is For the Unnamed (Carcanet, 2023).

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  • Ruth Dallas

    Ruth Dallas (1919 – 2008) was a New Zealand poet. Her first book of poetry, Country Road and Other Poems, was published in 1953. In 1954 she moved to Dunedin where she lived for most of her life. She also wrote short stories and published a number of books for children.  Her last poetry collection was The Joy of a Ming Vase (Otago University Press, 2006).

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  • Nicola Daly

    Nicola Daly studied English and History at Wrexham and now lives in Chester. She has had several poems and short stories published in small press magazines. In 2002 her science fiction novel, Thinking Of England, was published by Pegasus.

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  • Barbara Daniels

    Barbara Daniels has lived much of her life in Wales and her award-winning poems are regularly published in a number of magazines. She is the author of six poetry collections, including Take Off (2002) and The Cartographer Sleeps (2005), published by Shoestring Press.

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  • Jim Daniels

    Jim Daniels is an American poet and writer who has produced fiction and screenplays as well as poetry. He has published numerous collections, most recently Comment Card (Pittsburgh: Carnegie Mellon University Press, 2024). His work has appeared in The Best American Poetry and in Pushcart Prize volumes. He is the Thomas Stockham Baker University Professor of English Emeritus at Carnegie Mellon University and teaches in the Alma College low-residency MFA program.

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  • Kerry Darbishire

    Kerry Darbishire is a songwriter and poet who lives and writes in a remote area of Cumbria. She has published two full poetry collections with Indigo Dreams: A Lift of Wings (2014) and Distance Sweet on my Tongue (2018).  She co-edited the Handstand Press Cumbrian Poetry Anthology, This Place I Know. Handstand Press also published Kay’s Ark, an account of Kerry’s mother’s life. Kerry regularly reads her work at poetry events and is a member of Dove Cottage Poets.

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