john Siddique 

John Siddique is the author of six books the most recent of which is Full Blood. His poetry, essays and articles have featured in Granta, The Guardian, Poetry Review, The Rialto and on BBC Radio 4.  Jackie Kay speaks of Siddique’s writing as being ‘a brilliant balancing act.’
Siddique is the former British Council Writer-in-Residence at California State University, Los Angeles. Think-Tank QED considers John to be one of the 21 most influential people in the UK with South Asian heritage. John is the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at York St. John’s University and he was recently awarded the title of Honorary Creative Writing Fellow by the University of Leicester in recognition of his contribution to literature.

John Siddique came to Commonword in the early 90’s as a fledgling poet.  His poetry was unrecognised to all but Commonword who encouraged and supported him through his ‘lean years’ mainly via the Black writers workshop, Identity, but also by helping him bring out his first published poetry collection, The Devil’s Lunchbox.    As his career grew, Commonword advised him on how he could successfully make the transition to working full time as a poet.  He successfully made this transition in 2001.  He has had full collections published by several larger poetry presses and is much in demand as a poet in residence, both nationally and internationally. He is the bestselling author of Full Blood, Recital – An Almanac, Poems From A Northern Soul, The Prize, his children’s collection Don’t Wear It On Your Head and co-author of the story/memoir Four Fathers. His poems, essays and articles have featured in Granta, The Guardian, Poetry Review, The Rialto and on BBC Radio 4. He has worked with The British Council, PEN, The Arvon Foundation, The Poetry Society and London 2012. He is the former British Council Writer-in-Residence at California State University, Los Angeles. John is the Royal Literary Fund Fellow at York St. John’s University and was recently awarded the title of Honorary Creative Writing Fellow by the University of Leicester in recognition of his contribution to literature.

‘A stellar British poet.’ – The Spectator
‘Rebellious by nature, pure at heart.’ – The Times of India
‘One of the best poets of our generation.’ – Bina Shah (Author of Slum Child)
www.johnsiddique.co.uk <http://www.johnsiddique.co.uk>