Ruth Padel is a prize-winning poet, author of thirteen acclaimed poetry collections and prose works including much-loved books on reading contemporary poetry, a travel-memoir on wild tiger conservation, and a study of the influence of Greek myth on rock music. Awards include a British Council Darwin Now Award, a Travel Bursary and Cholmondley Award from The Society of Authors, and First Prize in the National Poetry Competition. She is Professor of Poetry at King’s College London and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

"[A] rewarding and effective Anglo-Irish affair, using a passionate relationship to cast light on the vexed colonial history and current situation of the two islands... There are some intensely erotic moments" -- Guardian "She has a fierce humour. Her poems speed, never out of the fast lane" Poetry Ireland Review "[An] extraordinary talent" Observer "Her sense of history, of the past intertwining with the present, is most poignant" Times Literary Supplement "If Wallace Stevens and Anna Akhmatova were one and the same person, you'd have Ruth Padel" -- Paul Durcan