Christina Rossetti was born in 1830 in London and educated at home. She was associated with the Pre-Raphaelites through her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her first collection,
Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), was extremely successful, followed by
The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (1866) and
A Pageant and Other Poems (1881). She also wrote a collection of verse for children and several essays about religion. After her death in 1894, her eldest brother, William, brought out a complete collection of her poetry.
Rachel Mann is an Anglican parish priest and writer. She was Poet-in-Residence at Manchester Cathedral between 2009 and 2017 and is the author of seven books, including
Fierce Imaginings: The Great War, Ritual, Memory and God (DLT, 2017). She is Visiting Fellow in Creative Writing and English at Manchester Metropolitan University. Her first collection of poetry,
A Kingdom of Love, was published by Carcanet in 2019.