Simon Armitage

Simon Armitage CBE, FRSL
Armitage in September 2019
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 May 2019
Monarchs	Elizabeth II Charles III
Preceded by	Carol Ann Duffy
Personal details
Born	Simon Robert Armitage (1963-05-26) 26 May 1963 (age 61) Huddersfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Spouse(s)	Alison Tootell (div.) Sue Roberts
Children	1
Residence(s)	Holme Valley, West Yorkshire, England
Education	Colne Valley High School
Alma mater	Portsmouth Polytechnic University of Manchester
Occupation	Poet, playwright, novelist, singer
Website	simonarmitage.com

Simon Robert Armitage CBE, FRSL (born 26 May 1963)^[1] is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.

He has published over 20 collections of poetry, starting with Zoom! in 1989. Many of his poems concern his home town in West Yorkshire; these are collected in Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems. He has translated classic poems including the Odyssey, the Alliterative Morte Arthure, Pearl, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. He has written several travel books including Moon Country and Walking Home: Travels with a Troubadour on the Pennine Way. He has edited poetry anthologies including one on the work of Ted Hughes. He has participated in numerous television and radio documentaries, dramatisations, and travelogues.