about

Caroline Bird is an English poet and playwright, born in 1986 and raised in Leeds. Bird's debut poetry collection LOOKING THROUGH LETTERBOXES was published in 2002 when she was just 15 years old. Her subsequent poetry collections are TROUBLE CAME TO THE TURNIP (2006), WATERING CAN (2009), THE HAT-STAND UNION (2013), IN THESE DAYS OF PROHIBITION (2017), shortlisted for both the Ted Hughes Award and the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry and THE AIR YEAR (2020) which won the Forward Prize for Best Collection and was shortlisted for both the Costa Prize and the Polari Prize. Her Selected Poems, ROOKIE, was published by Carcanet in Spring 2022. Bird’s latest collection, AMBUSH AT STILL LAKE was published in June 2024. Bird’s work is celebrated for its masterful use of imagery, wit, and voice, with poet Simon Armitage lauding her poetry as “spring-loaded, funny, sad, and deadly.”

Her poems have been extensively anthologized in journals including Poetry Magazine, The American Poetry Review, PN Review, Poetry Review, The Rialto, Magma, The North and Poetry London, and she was one of the official poets for the 2012 London Olympics, with her poem “The Fun Palace” permanently displayed at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Other poetry accolades include the Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award (1999 and 2000,) an Eric Gregory Award (2002,) the Dylan Thomas Prize (shortlisted twice in 2008 and 2010) and the prestigious Cholmondeley Award in 2023 for ‘sustained excellence across a body of work.’

Her works have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 3, and she has delivered poetry performances at prominent literary festivals and venues such as Latitude, Aldeburgh, Stanza, Ledbury, Cheltenham, the Wordsworth Trust, the Barbican Theatre and the Royal Festival Hall.

In addition to her poetry, Bird has established herself as a formidable playwright. As the youngest-ever member of the Royal Court Young Writers Programme, under the mentorship of Simon Stephens, her notable plays/adaptations include THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ (2015,) CHAMBER PIECE (2013) and THE TROJAN WOMEN (2012). Bird was shortlisted for Most Promising New Playwright at the Off-West-End Awards in 2013, and her latest play, RED ELLEN (2022) about the Labour MP Ellen Wilkinson, was shortlisted for the George Devine Award and received four star reviews in The Times, The Stage and The Guardian. 

As a workshop-leader and mentor, Bird is deeply committed to fostering literary talent. She regularly leads poetry workshops and teaches at the Arvon Foundation.