Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire and is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. He is currently Poet Laureate.

His previous work at the Globe includes The Last Days of Troy and Hansel & Gretel.

A recipient of numerous prizes and awards, his collections of poetry include Seeing Stars (2010), The Unaccompanied (2017), Sandettie Light Vessel Automatic (2019), Magnetic Field (2020), and his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2007). He writes extensively for television and radio, and is the author of two novels and the non-fiction bestsellers All Points North (1998), Walking Home (2012), and Walking Away (2015).

He served as Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford (2015-2019) and was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2018.