Neil Astley is editor of Bloodaxe Books, which he founded in 1978. His books include novels, poetry collections and anthologies, most notably the Bloodaxe Staying Alive trilogy: Staying Alive (2002), Being Alive (2004) and Being Human (2011), which were followed by Essential Poems from the Staying Alive Trilogy (2012).
His other anthologies, all from Bloodaxe, are Pleased to See Me: 69 very sexy poems, Do Not Go Gentle: poems for funerals, Passionfood: 100 Love Poems, Soul Food: nourishing poems for starved minds with Pamela Robertson-Pearce, Earth Shattering: ecopoems, the DVD-books (filmed by Pamela Robertson-Pearce) In Person: 30 Poets and In Person: World Poets, The World Record: international voices from Southbank Centre’s Poetry Parnassus (with Anna Selby, 2012), The Hundred Years’ War: modern war poems and Funny Ha-Ha, Funny Peculiar: a book of strange & comic poems.
Novels he’s published are, The End of My Tether, which was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award, and The Sheep Who Changed the World.
He received an Eric Gregory Award for his poetry and was given a D.Litt from Newcastle University for his work with Bloodaxe Books. He lives in Northumberland.