I was born in Pakistan, immigrated to Canada aged 10, and lived in Spain before settling in the UK.
My pamphlet The Taxidermist (Verve Poetry Press, 2020) is available now. I also have a collection, The Art of Scratching (Bloodaxe Books, 2015) and I am adapting my first pamphlet, The Courtesans Reply (flipped eye publishing, 2012) as a play.
My poems have been published in poetry journals and anthologies in the UK and US, and in The Guardian and The Financial Times. I have performed my work at venues including Hay Festival, Bradford Literature Festival, Edinburgh Book Festival, Aldeburgh, Ledbury Festival and The Royal Festival Hall. A fellow of the Complete Works I, I have received grants and awards from The Arts Council, The British Council and the Royal Society of Literature.
I teach with The Poetry School and Translators in Schools, and I am an artist in residence with Living Words, an arts charity working with isolated communities, individuals and people living with dementia. I am on the board of English PEN and on the Poetry and Spoken Word Committee of The Society of Authors.