An Afternoon with Simon Armitage

Join the nation’s Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, as he discusses his first-ever collection of lyrics, Never Good with Horses.

Despite being known for his incredible poetry and writing, Simon Armitage is often equally inspired and influenced by music and sound. His latest book shares a collection of his lyrical musings for his very own post-rock outfit Land Yacht Regatta, the indie band The Scaremongers, as well as for the stage and screen.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage was born and grew up in West Yorkshire. He is the recipient of numerous accolades, including the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, PEN Prize for Translation, BBC Radio Best Speech Programme and a Television Society Award for Documentary. He has published over a dozen poetry collections, including Magnetic Field: the Marsden Poems. His acclaimed modern translation of the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight has sold over 100,000 copies.  

His latest book Never Good with Horses (2023) is the first-ever collection of the Poet Laureate’s lyric output. He is also the author of two novels and three non-fiction bestsellers: All Points North, Walking Home and Walking Away. A regular broadcaster, Armitage presents the popular BBC Radio 4’s series The Poet Laureate has Gone to his Shed. An award-winning dramatist, his play The Last Days of Troy was performed at Manchester Royal Exchange and Shakespeare’s Globe. 

He also writes, records and performs with the band LYR and has received an Ivor Novello Award for his song writing. Armitage is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds. A Vertical Art brings together the vibrant and engaging lectures from his tenure as Oxford Professor of Poetry (2015-2019).