Dean Parkin was born in 1969 and left school at the age of sixteen to work at a printers, and then in a bookshop. He worked for The Poetry Trust for fifteen years (2000-2015) – latterly as Creative Director, programming the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival. He is now a freelance poet, devising his own projects and running workshops for every age group, from school children to the over nineties. He has published four chapbooks and his first full collection, The Swan Machine (The Rialto) was published in November 2015.