Donald Ward was born in Belmont, Surrey, in 1909, but lived virtually his entire life in Kent. Leaving school at 14, he worked for the Post Office until his retirement in 1972 after nearly fifty years’ service. He came to writing relatively late, publishing his first volume of poems, The Dead Snake, at the age of 62. It received an Arts Council Award, and several books and pamphlets appeared over the subsequent thirty years. He died in February 2003, shortly after completing work on Adonis Blue.