John McCullough

Acclaimed poet John McCullough teaches creative writing courses at the University of Brighton, the Arvon Foundation and New Writing South.

His first collection, The Frost Fairs, won the Polari First Book Prize in 2012 and was a Book of the Year in The Independent as well as a summer read in The Observer. His second collection, Reckless Paper Birds, published by Penned in the Margins and shortlisted for the Costa Poetry Award 2019, focuses on vulnerability and the human body. It won the coveted Hawthornden Prize in 2020. His most recent collection Panic Response was published in 2022 by Penned in the Margins and has been shortlisted for the Forward Prize. John has a PhD in English literature from the University of Sussex. He lists his interests as including queer culture, Doctor Who and most things to do with Japan.

John grew up in Watford but now live in Hove with his partner Morgan Case and their cats.