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Luke Kennard is an award-winning poet and novelist who lives in Birmingham. His first collection was published in 2005, winning an Eric Gregory award. His fifth collection, Cain (2016), was shortlisted for the International Dylan Thomas Prize and his sixth, Notes on the Sonnets, won the Forward Prize for Best Collection in 2021. His most recent book of poems, The Book of Jonah, was published by Picador in 2025. His first novel, The Transition (2017), was a BBC Radio 4 Book at Bedtime and was shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Award. He has reviewed fiction and poetry for the LRB, Telegraph and TLS and is a professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Birmingham. His latest novel, Black Bag, was published by John Murray in 2026 and has been longlisted for the Booker Prize.