Zoë was listed recently by The Manhattan Review and the Best American Poetry Blog as one of the best young British poets writing at the moment. 

 

Zoë is a Celtic writer (originally from Wales) who now lives in Pennsylvania, USA. She has published one pamphlet of poetry, Heaventree New Writers: Vol 1 (2004) and her debut full collection of poetry, The Secret, published in the UK by Bloodaxe (2007).

 

The Secret was made a UK Poetry Book Society Recommendation and was long-listed for the international prize for writers under 30, the Dylan Thomas Award. It was also poems from The Secret that won her a substantial Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in London, and the English Association's Poetry Fellows's Award. 

 

Zoë has also won a translation fellowship from University of East Anglia and a writing bursary from Academi, the Welsh Literature Promotion Agency. She has co-edited an anthology of women's poetry titled Bluebeard's Wives (2007) with the poet Julie Boden, and she writes a blog, The Midnight Heart. She also conducts research under her married name "Zoe Brigley Thompson" in the area of violence against women and human rights. She edited with Sorcha Gunne the Routledge volume Feminism, Literature and Rape Narratives (2010). 

 

* * *

 

 Zoë's maternal family is from the Llynfi Valley near Bridgend in South Wales, while the paternal side is from Bristol, England. Celtic mythology and tradition play an important role in her writing, as does the role of colonialism, conquest and trade as represented by British seaports like Bristol.

 

A view of Bristol from www.antiquemapsandprints.com
 

 

At university, Zoë was a member of the first student group to complete Warwick University's BA in English Literature and Creative Writing, where she was tutored by David Morley, Maureen Freely, Russell Celyn-Jones and Peter Blegvad. Later she took a MA in Gender and Literature with tutors such as Terry Lovell and Germaine Greer. She wrote her PhD thesis on three Welsh women poets, Gwyneth Lewis, Pascale Petit and Deryn Rees-Jones. As a postgraduate student, she attended research seminars with feminist writers like the French Luce Irigaray and the American Judith Butler.

 

After university, she worked as a classroom assistant and web designer for Cardiff High School in South Wales, and later as a journalist for New Design magazine. She was also able to travel in Central America (Mexico, Guatemala and Belize) thanks to funds from an Eric Gregory Award (2003) and a bursary from Academi, the Welsh literature promotion agency (2007).

 

 

Most recently, she has taught Creative Writing and English Literature at Northampton University, but, as of August 2010, she will be changing to the position of Visiting Research Fellow. She is resident most of the year in State College, Pennsylvania in the USA, though she still does occasional readings in the UK.