Paul Cookson was brought up near Preston and now lives in Retford, Notts. He has worked as a poet for over three decades, performing in schools and libraries, and at literature festivals and events across the world. As well as being Poet-in-Residence for The National Football Museum and Everton in the Community, Paul is Writer-in-Residence for Sing Together, which involves 250 Lancastrian choirs, and is also Poet Laureate for Slade. His anthology, The Works, has sold over a quarter of a million copies and has become a teacher's 'poetry Bible'.

“A book that future historians will want to read; it will tell them what it was like to live in turbulent times through a poet’s eye. If journalism is the first draft of history, then here is the second: life shaped, structured, described, annotated.” – Ian McMillan, poet & broadcaster; “In these strange times, every day should have a Paul Cookson moment – keep him by your bedside for emergencies.” – Simon Mayo, broadcaster & author; “A poem a day may not keep the pandemic away, but Paul’s pithy, moving, amusing and occasionally heartbreaking coronavirus verse diary is a must read memento of these challenging times. A succinct, modern take on Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year. Brilliant.” – Paul Ross, journalist & broadcaster