Simon Rae won the National Poetry Competition in 1999, having twice been a runner-up. He has also won a major Gregory Award and a Southern Arts Literature Bursary. For ten years he wrote a regular topical poem for the Guardian. Rae presented Radio 4's Poetry Please for five years. His poems have appeared in a variety of publications including the TLS, Observer, New Statesman, Poetry Review and London Magazine. He has held Royal Literary Fund fellowships at both Warwick and Oxford Brookes universities and was also poet in residence at Warwickshire County Cricket Club.