Alan Jenkins's poetry collections are In The Hot-House; Greenheart; Harm, winner of the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year); The Drift, a Poetry Book Society Choice, shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize; The Little Black Book; A Short History of Snakes: New and Selected Poems; A Shorter Life (Poetry Book Society Recommendation); and Drunken Boats. He received an Eric Gregory Award in 1981 and a Cholmondeley Award in 2006, and was shortlisted for the 2005 Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) with A Shorter Life. He is Deputy Editor of the TLS and has taught creative writing in London, Paris and the USA.