Geraldine Monk

[2] She was, she said, "Brought up with a parallel world of saints, angels, martyrs, the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Moved to Staithes, North Yorkshire for 10 years of 'splendid isolation', some very odd jobs and increasing preoccupation with reading and writing poetry."

From the start, and throughout her career, the importance of performance, and the sound of the spoken word has been a major part of Monk's poetry.

[5] Her work incorporates song, found text, and material drawn from such sources as childhood games[6] In 1994 she published the long poem "Interregnum", which is an account of the hanging of the Pendle witches in 1612.

[8] Monk's most recent works, such as "Escafeld Hangings", continue one of her themes of women in history, focussing in that case, on Mary Queen of Scots.

This collection has been described as containing "oppositions: between the individualism of lyric utterance and the political context in which it takes place; between the opacity produced by her densely patterned sounds ... and a plain-spoken brusqueness".

[11] Monk also provided voice & words for the album Fluvium, collaborating with Martin Archer and Julie Tippetts, released by Discus Music.