Christiania Whitehead was born in 1969 in Newcastle, wher her poetry was first published by Bloodaxe in its Bossy Parrot (1987) anthology as a prizewinner of the Evening Chronicle Poetry Competition, and later in Carol Rumens' New Women Poets (1990). She studied English to postgraduate level at Magdalen College, Oxford, and now teaches at the University of Warwick. She is currently writing a book on medieval allegory. She won an Eric Gregory Award in 1998. Her first collection The Garden of Slender Trust (Bloodaxe Books, 1999) was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection.