Paul Farley

Poet Paul Farley was born and brought up in Liverpool and won a grant to study at Chelsea School of Art before becoming a writer. His debut poetry collection won a Forward Prize for best first collection, as well as a Somerset Maugham Award, and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Young Poetry Award. In 1999 he won the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award. Farley is published by Picador and creates arts programmes, documentaries and original drama for television and radio. He is professor of poetry at Lancaster University.

1. What was your biggest career break?

When I was a young art student, getting a place at Chelsea in London, on a local authority grant from Liverpool City Council – imagine that.

2. Have you had a notable mentor – and if so what was it about them that was so inspiring?

The poet Michael Donaghy. I walked into his night class and almost immediately thought: ‘This is where they’ve been hiding the poetry’. We were all very fortunate to have known him.

3. What one piece of advice would you give to the 20-year-old you?

It turns out you’ve at least thirty more years of this, so slow down.

4. What qualities do you most value in people with whom you work?

Equal-to-anything-ness. Wit. Resourcefulness. But a lot of the time I’m writing, so stuck with me.

5. Who do you admire and why?

People who work in A&E. Macmillan nurses.

6. What does the future of poetry in the UK look like, to you?

Poetry will be fine – it’ll probably long outlast the UK.

7. If you hadn’t lived a life in writing and broadcasting, what would you have done instead?

I failed the eyesight test for the Merchant Navy, so who knows. I still miss painting and drawing.

8. What is your biggest extravagance?

I don’t seem to be able to stop buying pencils. Can’t pass by a stationery shop.

9. Who would you invite to your dream dinner party and why? (you can invite three people – they must be alive)

Agnès Varda, David Hockney, Bob Dylan.

10. What do you do to relax away from work?

Bird hide, binoculars, hip flask.

11. If you could change one thing about Britain today, what would it be?

I’d introduce a Shinkansen rail network, serving all of the regions.

12. What would your last meal be? (you can choose a starter, a main course and a pudding)

Dry ice langoustines from Maaemo in Oslo; curry, rice and chips served in a polystyrene tray with wooden spork; Pastel de nata Portuguese tarts. And a bottle of your house white.