John Wilkinson was born in London and grew up on the Cornish coast and on Dartmoor. After university at Cambridge he trained as a psychiatric nurse and worked in mental health services and public health in the West Midlands, South Wales and London’s East End. In 2005 he moved to the United States and has held academic positions at the University of Notre Dame and at the University of Chicago where he is currently a Professor in the Department of English and Director of Creative Writing. His extensive publications include Selected Poems (Schedule of Unrest, 2014). Wilkinson has held Fulbright and National Humanities Center fellowships.