All Points North

A joy. Celebrates the real world and revels in its mad glory -- Sue Townsend * Sunday Times * I was irresistibly reminded of Alan Bennett - there is the same wry humour, wonderfully telling selection of detail or remark . . . a fine balance of humour and poignancy * The Times * The salty prose of an original poetic voice -- Melvyn Bragg * Observer * A thoughtful, witty combination of travel writing, autobiography and Alan Bennett-style diary -- John-Paul Flintoff * Daily Telegraph * Laugh-out-loud funny . . . has all the resonant precision of a poet's ear and eye * Independent * An original and talented writer . . . highly entertaining and there are flashes of wit and moments of tenderness and brilliantly accurate observation -- Vernon Scannell * Sunday Telegraph * The best book I have read in a long time on what he insists is the true North of England -- Geoffrey Moorhouse * Daily Telegraph * I was irresistibly reminded of Alan Bennett - there is the same wry humour, wonderfully telling selection of detail or remark... a fine balance of humour and poignancy * The Times * The salty prose of an original poetic voice -- Melvyn Bragg * Observer * Laugh-out-loud funny... has all the resonant precision of a poet's ear and eye * Independent * A delight - high-spirited, light-footed, very funny and wickedly observamt -- Jonathan Raban * The Times Literary Supplement * A joy. Celebrates the real world and revels in its mad glory -- Sue Townsend * Sunday Times *

Simon Armitage was born in West Yorkshire in 1963. In 1992 he won one of the first Forward Prizes for poetry, and a year later was the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year. His Selected Poems appeared in 2001, and in 2007 he published a highly praised translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He received an Ivor Novello Award for his song lyrics in the BAFTA-winning film Feltham Sings. Simon Armitage works as a freelance writer, broadcaster and playwright, and has written extensively for radio and television. He was made Poet Laureate in 2019.