Simon Armitage's 6 best books

Simon Armitage was born in and lives in West Yorkshire, England. His books include Killing Time, Selected Poems, The Universal Home Doctor, Tyrannosaurus Rex Versus the Corduroy Kid, and his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. In 1993, he was named the London Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year; he is the recipient of a Forward Prize and in 2010 won the Keats-Shelley Prize for Poetry. He works as a freelance writer, broadcaster, and playwright; writes extensively for radio, television, and film; has taught at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop; and is professor of poetry at the University of Sheffield.

Knopf will release Seeing Stars, his new collection of poems, in the US in August 2011.

One of Armitage's six best books, as told to the Scottish Sunday Express:

Writing Home by Alan Bennett

One of our most naturally gifted writers. I recognise the Yorkshire he describes, of front rooms full of gossipy aunties. I love how he develops the character of himself through the work but while he’s often caricatured as a teddy bear, his sharp political eye and staunch convictions underpin the work. He also writes wonderful and touching commemorative elegies.

Read about another book on the list.

Learn about Simon Armitage's top ten bird poems.

--Marshal Zeringue