Wayne Holloway-Smith was born in Wiltshire and lives in London. He received his PhD in English and Creative Writing from Brunel University in 2015. He co-edits the online journal Poems in Which and teaches at the University of Hertfordshire. His pocketbook, Beloved, in case you've been wondering was published by Donut Press in 2011, and he won the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2016. His first book-length collection, Alarum (Bloodaxe Books, 2017) was a Poetry Book Society Wildcard Choice for Winter 2017, was shortlisted for the Roehampton Poetry Prize 2017 and the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry Prize for First Full Collection 2018, and was also longlisted for the 2019 Michael Murphy Memorial Prize. He won the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize in 2016. His chapbook, I Can't Wait for the Wending, was published by Test Centre Publications in 2018. He won the National Poetry Competition 2018 for his poem 'The posh mums are boxing in the square'. His second collection, Love Minus Love, is published by Bloodaxe in 2020.