Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2019, Carol Ann Duffy was the first woman, the first Scot, and the first openly lesbian poet to hold the post. She was born in Glasgow and educated at the University of Liverpool. Her collections include The World's Wife (Picador, 1999), Standing Female Nude (Anvil Press, 1985), and Mean Time (Anvil Press, 1993), which won both the Whitbread Poetry Award and the Forward Prize for Best Collection. She is Creative Director of the Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2015.
