John Challis was born in London in 1984. His pamphlet, The Black Cab (Poetry Salzburg, 2017), was a 2019 New Writing North Read Regional title. His first book-length collection, The Resurrectionists, was published by Bloodaxe in 2021. His second full-length collection, The Green Parcel, was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2026 and is on the longlist for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2026.
He has held several residencies. In 2015 he was a poet-in-residence with the Northern Poetry Library and chosen as one of the Poetry Trust’s Aldeburgh Eight. His other residencies have included ones at Keats Shelley House in Rome, and at Seaton Delaval Hall, a National Trust property in Northumberland. A limited edition pamphlet, Hallsong: Poems for Seaton Delaval Hall, was published by the National Trust and New Writing North in 2022, with all the poems featured in Hallsong, a film collaboration with filmmaker Christo Wallers.
His poems have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4, selected as Poem of the Week in The Guardian and The Telegraph, and published in journals including Poetry London, The Poetry Review and Poetry Ireland Review. He has received a Pushcart Prize and a Northern Writers’ Award for his work and was Highly Commended in the 2021 Forward Prizes for Poetry. John has also written reviews and essays and produced poetry for public art projects in Northumberland. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Newcastle University, where he worked as a Research Associate. He now teaches at York St John University and lives in York.
Author photo: Alan Fentiman
