Shortlisted for the 2010 Aldeburgh Prize for First Collection.

Sheila Hillier brings a life time of research skills and concern for the human condition to bear in her finely observed, subtle, rhythmic and highly original poetry.

Coming to poetry later in life, Hillier applies the pursuit of excellence to her considerable life experience and wide ranging knowledge of disparate cultures to produce one of the finest debut collections.

"Sheila Hillier's debut collection is a thing of marvels. Brimming with far-flung discoveries, brilliant observations and strange characters and events it offers an entirely original sense of wonder. The poet's mind, like Lynette Roberts or Bishop, awakens an intelligence alert to the exotic and the intimate and then voyages forward. This is one of the most captivating and thrilling poetry books I have ever read."
Todd Swift

Sheila Hillier trained at the London School of Economics and The London Hospital Medical College. She was appointed Professor of Medical Sociology in 1992, the first sociologist to be appointed to a Chair in a UK Medical School. She has undertaken research in the UK, Trinidad and the People’s Republic of China, where she has been involved for over 30 years. She is currently Visiting Professor at the Chinese University, Hong Kong and Professor Emeritus at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. In 2009 she was awarded the prestigious Hamish Canham Prize by the Poetry Society.