Jamie McKendrick was born in Liverpool in 1955. He has published five collections of poetry including The Marble Fly (1997), winner of the Forward Prize for best collection, Ink Stone (2003) and Crocodiles & Obelisks (2007). His selected poems, Sky Nails,was published in 2000. He edited The Faber Book of 20th-Century Italian Poems (2004) and has translated Giorgio Bassani