I was born in Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1958. My family moved south to Dorset when I was five. I returned to the North East in 1981 after some time living in Leeds, London and Amsterdam. I am currently based near Hadrian’s Wall, between Corbridge and Hexham.

I have five poetry collections published with Bloodaxe Books: Red (1992), The Gentleness of the Very Tall (1994, Poetry Book Society Recommendation/Los Angeles Times Book Award longlist), Storyville (1997), The Simultaneous Dress (2002) and The Toast of the Kit Cat Club (2005), a verse biography of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), poet, traveller and letter-writer. In 1993 I edited the anthology Sixty Women Poets (PBS Special Recommendation) which went into its fourth edition in 2002.

Since early 1990 I have been involved in various Poetry in Public Spaces projects, collaborating with visual artists in different media on text to be installed into the landscape or within buildings. Major pieces have resulted from working with stone carver Alec Peever - at Royal Quays, North Shields, and in Mowbray Park, Sunderland – and with blacksmith William Pym at Hawthorn Cokeworks, Murton, County Durham. I have also collaborated with the painter Birtley Aris on several works for gallery spaces and publication (Acknowledged Land, 1993; Storyville, 1997 and Wild, 2003). I have contributed to several conferences on the subject of ‘Public Poetry’ - Logos in Middlesbrough in 1996 and Poetry in Public Spaces at the British Library in 1999. I designed a course on the subject – Paper Scissors Stone – for the University of Newcastle, which I teach as part of their MA in Creative Writing.

I have written two stage plays: Diamonds in Your Pockets, commissioned and performed by Theatre sans Frontieres in 1996, and I Am Frida Kahlo, commissioned and performed by Cloud 9. I have worked on various stage pieces with No Limits Theatre Company (for adults with learning difficulties).

My poetry has been performed on radio and television and I give regular readings and workshops around the country. Poems have appeared in The Independent, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Poetry Review, The Rialto, The North, Stand, Writing Women and various other magazines. I am also represented in many anthologies, including New Women Poets (ed. Carol Rumens), Making For Planet Alice (ed. Maura Dooley), The Firebox (ed. Sean O'Brien), Scanning the Century (ed. Peter Forbes) and North by North East (ed.Andy Croft & Cynthia Fuller).

I have received various awards and fellowships for my work, including the first Arts Foundation Poetry Fellowship in 1993, as well as the Basil Bunting Award two years in a row (1989 and 1990) and fellowships at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, Eire, Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, USA and Hawthornden Castle, Scotland.

I have taught various aspects of creative writing in schools, universities, for the Arvon Foundation, the Poetry School and with community groups since 1985. I also work as a writing mentor and offer one-to-one tutorials.