Sean O’Brien is a poet, critic, playwright, broadcaster, anthologist and editor. He grew up in Hull and now lives in Newcastle upon Tyne; he is Professor of Creative Writing at Newcastle University and Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His six collections of poetry to date have all won awards, including The Drowned Book (Picador, 2007) which won both the Forward Prize for best collection and the T.S. Eliot Prize.

The sense of regretfully looking back through fading autumn sunlight on a life not really lived is wonderfully done