Fanthorpe, U(rsula) A

English poet. Her first collection, Side Effects (1978), was highly praised as a strong and clear new voice in English poetry. Standing To (1982) was chosen as the Financial Times book of the year for its humour and emotional appeal. Her vision is often an amusing and restrained response to pain.

Fanthorpe was born in Kent and studied at Oxford University. She was a teacher in Cheltenham for many years before taking a job as a clerk in a hospital in Bristol. In 1980 she won a prize in a poetry competition organized by the Observer, the Arvon Foundation, and the South Bank Show, and in 1983 she won a Travelling Scholarship from the Society of Authors. In 1994 she became the first woman to be nominated for the post of professor of poetry at Oxford University.