Jo Shapcott was born in London. Poems from her three award-winning collections, Electroplating the Baby (1988), Phrase Book (1992) and My Life Asleep (1998) are gathered in a selected poems, Her Book (2000). She has won a number of literary prizes including the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best First Collection, the Forward Prize for Best Collection and the National Poetry Competition (twice). Jo Shapcott is currently Visiting Professor at the University of Newcastle.
