Helen Calcutt

Helen Calcutt is a British poet, critic and author. Her first collection 'Sudden rainfall' was published by British publishing house 'Perdika' when she was just 23 years old. It was shortlisted for the PBS Pamphlet Choice Award on publication, and in 2016 listed one of Waterstone's best-selling pamphlet collections. Calcutt performs her work internationally, collaborating with institutions as diverse as Poetry International, Andrew Motion's Poetry By Heart, and leading education centre N.A.W.E. She is the first writer-in-residence to be appointed by the Clent Hills National Trust. She is currently Poet-in-Residence of Loughborough University.

Calcutt was Born in 1988 in the Black Country. She received a First Class (BA) Honours Degree in Philosophy & Creative and Professional Writing, and originally trained as a professional dancer before becoming a writer.

Described as "radical and uncompromising" (Mario Petrucci) "much like Emily Dickinson, surprising and new" (Robert Peake,Poetry Salzburg)her poetry marks the presence of a compelling new literary voice. On publishing her poems 'Siren' and 'Black Country' in 2016, Nine Arches Press describe her poetry as "strident and precise....with an unflinching clarity that seeks to renew and refocus how we see the world around us. Taking root in influences and environments that are definitively of the midlands, her writing explores the hinterland between humans and nature, between shifting landscapes and wildness. All the time, her poetry is alive and attentive to the voice's unique, powerful music."

Calcutt's work has received global publication featuring in over fifty journals, from The New Yorker and The London Magazine, to arts and fashion journal House of Coco. Calcutt has worked with institutions as diverse as The Southbank Centre, Andrew Motion's Poetry By Heart, and The Poetry Society. She writes literary reviews for journals such as the Wales Arts Review, Bare Fiction, and The Times Literary Supplement.

Calcutt is also a leading dance artist and choreographer. She is co-founder and director of project écriture corporelle or 'Bodily Writing'. Inspired by Stéphane Mallarme's theory that "the dancer, writing with her body…suggests things which the written work could express only in several paragraphs of dialogue or descriptive prose” the project looks to explore the lines of dialogue between movement and language, in particular, how dance techniques can be embodied into the delivery of teaching of poetry within the National Curriculum.

The project officially launched at the Poetry International Festival in London in July 2014. It was followed by a performance at the Birmingham Literature Festival, with text-based inspired choreography from Owen Sheers' poem 'Last Act', and has since been endorsed by The Poetry Society, NAWE, First Story, and the University of Bolton.

Helen is currently company choreographer for Regional Voice Theatre, established in January 2016.

As both a writer and dance artist, one of the most important areas of Helen’s work is connecting with isolated and vulnerable communities, including outreach programmes for charities such as Homeless Link, and domestic abuse support.

Published by Perdika Press in September 2013 "Helen Calcutt’s new sequence confirms a compelling young voice whose quiet precision and intimate manner offer – to the attentive reader – an experience both delightful and deliberately unsettling. Working where all is movement, where the apparent solidity of the world is disturbed by the sure spotlight of intense metaphysical probing, Calcutt’s radical diction and subtle vigour combine to teach us exactly what “happens when light changes”.

Calcutt has one daughter. She divides her time between London and Birmingham, UK.