Gillian Clarke was born in Cardiff in 1937 and is a poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator. She became the National Poet of Wales in 2008, and was awarded The Queens Gold Medal for Poetry in 2010. Her poetry is studied by GCSE and A Level students throughout Britain. She has given poetry readings and lectures in Europe and the United States, and her work has been translated into ten languages. A considerable number of her poems are used in the GCSE AQA Anthology.

She has published ten collections of poetry for adults: Snow on the Mountain (1971), The Sundial (1978), Letter From a Far Country (1982), Selected Poems (1985), Letting in the Rumour (1989),The King of Britain’s Daughter (1993), Collected Poems (1997), Five Fields(1998), Making the Beds for the Dead (2004) and A Recipe for Water(2009). Letting in the Rumour, The King of Britain’s Daughter and Five Fields were all Poetry Book Society recommendations. She has also written several collections for children, her work is widely anthologised, and her poetry forms part of the school syllabus in Britain.