Fiona Sampson

Fiona Sampson (born 1963) is an award-winning British poet.

Life and work

Fiona Sampson grew up in Wales and was educated at Oxford and Nijmegen. She has published fifteen books - of poetry, on the philosophy of language and on the writing process - of which the most recent are her latest and fifth full poetry collection, Common Prayer (Carcanet, 2007), and Writing: Self and Reflexivity (Macmillan 2005) and a book of essays On Listening (2007). She consults internationally on writing in health care and her many translations include Jaan Kaplinski and Orient Express, a journal of contemporary writing from enlargement Europe, of which she was founding editor .

Her poem 'Trumpeldor Beach' was shortlisted for the 2006 Forward prize and she has been widely translated, with eight books in translation, and her poetry has been published and broadcast in more than a dozen languages. She contributes to The Guardian, The Irish Times and other publications; and is the editor of Poetry Review , the oldest and most widely-read poetry journal in the UK . She is also the director of Poetryfest - the Aberystwyth International Poetry Festival .

Her awards include the 2003 Zlaten Prsten for international writing (Macedonian Foundation for Culture and Sciences), a Hawthornden Fellowship, the Newdigate Prize; and awards from the Arts Councils of England and Wales and the Society of Authors .

Selected bibliography

• Common Prayer (2007)
• On Listening (2007)
• Day co-authored with Amir Or (2007)
• The Distance Between Us (Seren, 2006, published in Macedonian by Magor, 2005 and Romanian by Cartea Romaniasca, 2005)
• Bread and Roses (Poetry Review) (2006)
• A La Recherche (Poetry Review) (2006)
• Writing: Self and Reflexivity co-authored with Celia Hunt (2005)
• Creative Writing In Health And Social Care (2004)
• Evening Brings Everything Back (translations of Jaan Kaplinski, Bloodaxe, 2004)
• Poem co-authored with Amir Or and Helena Berg (2004)
• A Fine Line: New Poetry from East and Central Europe (with Jean Boase-Beier and Alexandra Buchler: Arc, 2004)
• Folding the Real (Seren, 2001, published in Romanian by Editura Paralela 45, 2004)
• The Healing Word (1998)
• Travel Diary (Patuvacki Dnevnik) (Knixevna Akademija, Macedonia, 2004)
• a chapbook, Hotel Casino (Aark Arts, 2004)

External links

• Biography at the Poetry Society
• Biography at Carcanet Press