imon Armitage works as a probation officer in Oldham, Greater Manchester. His first book of poems 'Zoom!' was chosen by the Poetry Book Society as the best book of poetry published in Britain during the last quarter of 1989 and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize. His work has been said to bear comparison with early Auden. Craig Steeland interviewed him at his home in a Pennine village near Huddersfield.