Helen Ivory was born in Luton in 1969 and began to write poems at Norwich School of Art in 1997, under the tuition of George Szirtes. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 1999 and then disappeared into a field in the Norfolk countryside to look after two thousand free-range hens and build a house. When she emerged ten or so years later, she had two collections with Bloodaxe Books.
She is an experienced creative writing tutor and workshop leader and has taught both undergraduates and in adult education for around ten years. She has also run workshops in schools and is a freelance tutor and mentor. She edits the webzine Ink Sweat and Tears, and Course Director for the new UEA/WCN Creative Writing Programme. Her fourth Bloodaxe Books collection is Waiting for Bluebeard. (2013) She is Co-editor with George Szirtes of In their Own Words: Contemporary Poets on their Poetry (Salt 2012)
She lives in Norwich with her husband, the poet Martin Figura, where they run Café Writers – a live literature organization. She is also an assemblage artist and makes shadow boxes from found and squirreled objects. |
