Broadcaster, novelist and poet, recipient of numerous literary prizes and awards, as well as the CBE for services to poetry, Simon Armitage has published ten collections of poetry, including Selected Poems (2001), Seeing Stars (2010), and his acclaimed translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (2007). Now he has turned to the alliterative Morte Arthure, with its vivid narrative involving battles on land and sea, partings, swoonings, and dream sequences: this event will centre on his new translation, The Death of King Arthur.
Armitage, whose awards include The Sunday Times Young Author of the Year, also writes for radio, television, film and stage. He has written for more than a dozen television films and pioneered, with director Brian Hill, the docu-musical format. He received an Ivor Novello Award for his song lyrics in the Channel 4 film Feltham Sings which won a Bafta. He recently presented films for BBC4 on Arthurian literature and the Odyssey. In 2011, he was appointed Professor of Poetry at the University of Sheffield.