The Poetry Business are an independent press, and a writer development agency, based in Sheffield. Since 1986, they have run workshops, mentorships, competitions and more. The poet duo Peter and Ann Sansom are the directors of the Poetry Business.
About The Poetry Business were established in 1986 out of a Victorian arcade in Huddersfield, and for the past fifteen years, have been "headquartered just a stone's throw from Sheffield's historic cathedral." They publish The North magazine, which was 70 issues old in August 2024, and several imprints, and their poets "have won or been shortlisted for almost every major poetry prize, including the Forward Prize on 11 occasions and 10 Poetry Book Society awards". In 2016, four of their titles, Mark Pajak's Spitting Distance, Geraldine Clarkson's Dora Incites The Sea-Scribber to Lament, Tom Sastry's Complicity, and Zeina Hashem Beck's There Was And How Much There Was, were named The Poetry School's Books of the Year. The press themselves have won the Michael Marks Award for Pamphlet Publishers in 2012 and 2017.
The press was incorporated in 1991, and the team has previously included Janet Fisher (until 2008) and Ellen McLeod as co-directors alongside Peter and Ann Sansom. Until 2021, McLeod served as the third co-director and business manager for The Poetry Business, alongside the Sansoms serving as the directors. In 2025, as they are approaching their fortieth year, the team is made up of Jessica (Jess) Rollitt, serving as office manager, Pete Hebden, as marketing manager, Matthew Paul, who organises and manages guest-tutored workshops, the poet Holly Hopkins serving as assistant editor, Keith Lauchlan, who is involved in typesetting, book design and production, and Katherine Sansom, the daughter of the Sansoms, in charge of finance. The press are one of the few in the North of England, alongside And Other Stories in Sheffield, Peepal Tree in Leeds, Valley Press in Scarborough, Comma Press in Manchester and Dead Ink in Liverpool.
The North The North'''s name serves as "a clear nod to the firm's regional roots." Its first issue, appearing in the 1980s, which was considered "a key time for Northern poetry", included work by such poets as Carol Ann Duffy and Michael Schmidt, and has since gone on to have great names, including Andrew McMillan and others, as editors.
Now approaching their fortieth year, The Poetry Business have announced that they "will publish an anthology of the best work from four decades of the North", which will include some of the best-known names in poetry from around the world.
Activities The Poetry Business have often participated in local and national events, such as festivals, where their poets have performed their work. The Poetry Business also run around a hundred workshops annually, and in July and August 2024, they organised several online workshops with such poets as Schmidt, who was then 77 years old, Jonathan Edwards and David Constantine. They recently worked with the poet Sarah Wimbush and the National Coal Mining Museum for England, to produce an anthology of poetry to mark the 40th anniversary of the Miners' Strike. The COAL Anthology, noted as "a moving and impactful tribute to the resilience and spirit of our mining communities", includes work from poets Simon Armitage, Liz Berry, Helen Mort, and newer voices. In 2012, paying tribute to steel city, the Press published The Sheffield Anthology: Poems from the City Imagined, which included work from Duffy, Armitage, Mort, Roger McGough, Ian McMillan, and more. In 2021, they announced a call for submissions for two poetry collections "to be edited by [the then] Apprentice Editor-in-Residence Gboyega Odubanjo as part of their 'Apart Together' 2021 project." The two collections published as a result were Helen Seymour's The Underlook, and Sarah Barnsley's The Thoughts.
Since 2021, they've gone on to work with The Writing Squad on a series of digital residencies. The first Poet In Residence, hosted throughout February, was Helen Bowell. In 2024, an anthology, titled Five: a poetry anthology, was published by the press as part of their New Poets List. It included poems by five young poets: Helen Bowell, Prerana Kumar, Eva Lewis, Laura Potts and Ruth Yates. In November 2025, they published The Poems: Forty Poems from Forty Years of The North, and 100 Poems on the Underground in January 2026. The latter is be "the 40th anniversary edition of Poems on the Underground".
Other anthologies published by the press have included The Result Is What You See Today: Poems About Running (2019), curated by Ben Wilkinson, Kim Moore and Paul Deaton, with work by such poets as Lucy Holt, Rishi Dastidar, Stuart Barnes, Olga Dermott-Bond, Abeer Ameer, Lewis Buxton, A E Housman, Helen Mort, Wendy Pratt, and Jeffrey Hill, among others; A Commonplace: Apples, Bricks & Other People's Poems (2020), curated by Jonathan Davidson with his own work and that of Roz Goddard, Zaffar Kunial, Kit Wright, Jackie Kay, and others; Spit Out the Myth: Three Sheffield Poets (2023), including work by Danae Wellington, Sile Sibanda and Warda Yassin; Strange Cargo: Five Australian Poets (2017), edited by Paul Munden, with work by Lucy Dougan, Cassandra Atherton, Paul Hetherington, Jen Webb and Sarah Holland-Batt; CAST: The Poetry Business Book of New Contemporary Poets (2014), which was edited by Simon Armitage, Joanna Gavins, and Ann and Peter Sansom, with work by Liz Berry, Andrew McMillan, David Tait, Tom Warner and Kim Moore, among others; and more. The publication of Strange Cargo coincided with a poetry reading by UK, US and Australian poets, and marked an important partnership between the press and the International Poetry Studies Institute (IPSI), based in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra.
The press often work with the former and the current poet laureates Carol Ann Duffy and Simon Armitage, who were both first published by them, with Armitage's pamphlet Human Geography also being the press's first. In 2016, a Guardian article mentioned the press among some "of the best poetry publishing" in the UK.
Competitions The Poetry Business run several annual literary competitions, including the International Book & Pamphlet Competition, and the New Poets Prize.
The New Poets Prize The New Poets Prize is "an annual pamphlet prize that creates new publishing and mentoring opportunities for poets between the ages of 17 and 24." It was launched in 2015, and has since been judged by such poets as Helen Mort, Andrew McMillan, Anthony Anaxagorou, Kayo Chingonyi, Mary Jean Chan, Luke Kennard, Kim Moore and Holly Hopkins. The Prize runs annually alongside the renowned Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition. One of the press's imprints, the New Poets List, is dedicated to publishing the New Poets Prize winners, which include:
2015/16 (Judge: Helen Mort) Sources: Imogen Cassells, for The Fire Manifesto Jenny Danes, for Gaps Theophilus Kwek, for The First Five Storms Phoebe Stuckes, for Gin & Tonic2016/17 (Judge: Andrew McMillan) Source: Ian Burnette, for Wax Sarah Fletcher, for Typhoid August Lizzie Hawkins, for Osteology Stefan Kielbasiewicz, for Stealing Shadow2017/18 (Judge: Kayo Chingonyi) Source: Joe Carrick-Varty, for Somewhere Far Emma Jeremy, for Safety Behaviour Tristram Fane Saunders, for Woodsong Warda Yassin, for Tea with Cardamom2018/19 (Judge: Mary Jean Chan) Sources: Jay Gao, for Katabasis (earlier reported as Scheherazade) Abbie Neale, for Threadbare Ben Ray, for The Kindness of the Eel Callan Waldron-Hall, for Learning to be Very Soft2019/20 (Judge: Luke Kennard) Source: Lauren Hollingsworth-Smith, for Ugly Bird Lucy Holt, for Have a nice weekend I think you're interesting Gboyega Odubanjo, for Aunty Uncle Poems Georgie Woodhead, for Takeaway2020/21 (Judge: Kim Moore) Source: Hannah Hodgson, for Queen of Hearts Safia Khan, for Too Much Mirch Charlotte Shevchenko Knight, for Ways of Healing Karl Knights, for Kin2021/22 (Judge: Anthony Anaxagorou) Source: Serena Alagappan, for Sensitive to Temperature Tom Branfoot, for This Is Not an Epiphany Beth Davies, for The Pretence of Understanding Chloe Elliott, for Encyclopaedia2022/23 (Judge: Kim Moore) Source: Winner: Freya Bantiff, for All Appears Ordinary Winner: Caleb Leow, for The Hoarders Runner-up: Imogen Wade, for Fire Safety Runner-up: Luke Worthy, for On What Could Sting2023/24 (Judge: Holly Hopkins) Sources: Winner: Jayant Kashyap, for Notes on Burials Winner: Cia Mangat, for Lobe Runner-up: Zelda Cahill-Patten, for Surgeon Songs Runner-up: Charlie Jolley, for The Dreamers2025/26 (Judge: Holly Hopkins) Source: Winner: Zelda Cahill-Patten, for Scare Winner: Joe Wright, for HOWK Runner-up: George Adams, for Cub Runner-up: Jacob Burgess Rollo, for Minor Sporting AchievementsFrom 2016 to 2022, four poets were accepted for publication, which number reduced to two beginning in 2023, and two runners-up have also been announced every year since (except in 2025). The Poetry Business's digital residencies, or the 'Poet in Residence' programme, has included New Poets Prize winners Jenny Danes, Hannah Hodgson, Chloe Elliott, and more. Kashyap is the only India-based winner of the Prize. He was shortlisted for the Prize twice, in 2021 and 2022. The competition wasn't announced in 2024. Zelda Cahill-Patten, who was one of the runners-up in the 2023/23 Prize went on to win the 2025/26 Prize.
The International Book & Pamphlet Competition Established in 1986, the International Book & Pamphlet Competition is an older competition, and hailed as "the first of its kind in Britain." It's notable winners have been Peter Daniels and Moniza Alvi in 1991, published together as Peacock Luggage in 1992, Dean Browne in 2021 for Kitchens at Night, Michael Laskey in 1988 for Cloves of Garlic, and Daljit Nagra in 2003 for Oh My Rub! In 2025, which was the competition's 39th year, it was judged by the poet Kim Moore, who had also judged the New Poets Prize earlier.
Below is an incomplete list of poets who have won the Competition over the years:
Before 2002/03 1988: Michael Laskey, for Cloves of Garlic 1989: Mimi Khalvati, for Persian Miniatures 1989: David Morley, for A Belfast Kiss 1990: Liz Cashdan, for Troublesome Cattle 1990: Julia Casterton, for Troublesome Cattle 1991: Moniza Alvi, for Peacock Luggage 1991: Peter Daniels, for Peacock Luggage 1993/94: Bob Cooper, for Light From The Upper Left 1993: Jo Haslam, for Light From The Upper Left 1994: Katherine Frost, for The Sixth Channel 1994: Selima Hill, for My Sister's Horse 1994: Mandy Sutter, for Game 1995: Stephen Knight, for The Sandfields Baudelaire 1996: Jane Draycott, for No Theatre 1996: Diana Syder, for Hubble 1997: Marlynn Rosario, for Larvae 1998: Kath McKay, for Anyone Left Standing 1998: Stephanie Norgate, for Fireclay 1998: Susan Utting, for Something Small is Missing 1998: Cliff Yates, for Henry's Clock 1999: Peter Daniels, for Through The Brushes 1999: Brenda Lealman, for Time You Left 2000: Dennis Casling, for Endorphin Angels 2000: Bob Cooper, for Pinocchio's Long Neb 2000: Robert Hamberger, for The Rule of Earth 2000: Catherine Smith, for The New Bride 2000: Tim Dooley, for The Secret Ministry 2001: Anne-marie Austin, for Debatable Land 2001: Jennifer Copley, for Ice2002/03 (Judge: David Constantine) Peter Bennet, for Ha-Ha Chris Jones, for Hard on the Knuckle Tim Liardet, for The Uses of Pepper Daljit Nagra, for Oh My Rub! Jane Routh, for Circumnavigation2003/04 (Judge: Gillian Clarke) Mike Barlow, for Living on the Difference Tim Dooley, for Tenderness Stephen Duncan, for Ghost-Walking Sam Gardiner, for The Picture Never Taken Kathryn Simmonds, for Snug2004/05 (Judge: Gerard Benson) Patricia Debney, for How to Be a Dragonfly Carole Bromley, for Unscheduled Halt Hugh McMillan, for After the Storm Hilary Menos, for Extra Maths Pascale Petit, for The Wounded Deer2005/06 (Judge: Simon Armitage)