Jacob Polley was born in Carlisle. He has published with Picador two books of poems, The Brink (which was shortlisted for the T.S Eliot Prize, the Forward Prize and the John Llewellyn Rhys prize) and Little Gods, as well as a novel, Talk of the Town (which won the 2010 Somerset Maugham Award). Jacob was selected as one of the Next Generation of British poets in 2004. In 2002 he won an Eric Gregory Award and the Radio 4/Arts Council ‘First Verse’ Award. He teaches at the University of St Andrews and lives in Fife.