Born near Huddersfield in 1963, Simon Armitage studied geography and psychology before starting working as a probation officer in Oldham. He shot to prominence with his first collection Zoom! (1989) and has been shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize, T S Eliot Prize and Forward Prize. He won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award in 1993 and was Poet in Residence for the New Millennium Experience Company in 1999. An exciting and extremely popular poet whose work makes liberal use of the vernacular and pop culture, Armitage has worked extensively in film, radio and television, and has written two novels. The Green Man (2001) and The White Stuff (2004), as well a volume of autobiographical pieces, All Points North (1998) He has also been a member of the judges' panel for Next Generation Poets