Rebecca Swift (10 January 1964 – 18 April 2017) was a British poet and essayist. She was co-founder in 1996 of The Literary Consultancy.

Biography

Rebecca Margaret Swift was born in Highbury, north London, the daughter of Clive Swift and

Margaret Drabble Dame Margaret Drabble, Lady Holroyd, (born 5 June 1939) is an English biographer, novelist and short story writer. Drabble's books include '' The Millstone'' (1965), which won the following year's John Llewellyn Rhys Memorial Prize, and ''Jer ...

. Her brothers are

Adam Swift Adam Swift (born 1961) is a British political philosopher and sociologist who specialises in debates surrounding liberal egalitarianism. He has published books on communitarianism, on the philosophical aspects of school choice, on social jus ...

and Joe Swift. As a student, Swift attended the Camden School for Girls and

New College, Oxford New College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as its feeder school, New College is one of the oldest colleges at th ...

. From 1989 to 1995, she worked as a junior editor at Virago Press. She was fired after Virago was purchased by Little, Brown and Company. In 1992 and 1995, she published ''Letters from Margaret: The Fascinating Story of Two Babies Swapped at Birth'', and ''Imagining Characters'', respectively. She co-founded The Literary Consultancy, an editing company, in 1996 with Hannah Griffiths. The Literary Consultancy has helped many writers, including Prue Leith,

Neamat Imam Neamat Imam ( bn, নেয়ামত ইমাম; born 5 January 1971) is a Bangladeshi-Canadian author of literary fiction. His first novel, ''The Black Coat'', a ''Quill & Quire'' Book of the Year 2016, was published by Penguin Books Indi ...

, and Jennifer Makumbi. In 2009, The Literary Consultancy became a founding member of the Free Word Centre. In 1999, Swift wrote "Are You Reading Me?" for her master's thesis at the Tavistock Clinic. In 2001, she organised a bursary scheme to provide for free editing services to low-income writers. In 2011, she published ''Dickinson: Poetic Lives'', a biography of Emily Dickinson. In 2012, she organised the first digital conference for writers in the United Kingdom, "Writing in a Digital Age" at the Free Word Centre. The conference discussed the current publishing landscape, including

self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

Honour

Swift died of cancer on 18 April 2017, at the age of 53. In her honour, the Rebecca Swift Foundation was formed. In June 2018, it announced the

Women Poets' Prize The Women Poets' Prize is an award for poets. It is awarded biennially by the Rebecca Swift Foundation to three female poets. The award and foundation were established in 2018 to honor the memory of Rebecca Swift, a poet, essayist, editor, and foun ...

, to be awarded biennially to three poets, at the Second Home Poetry Festival. It will also provide support to winning poets, in partnership with affiliated organisations.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swift, Rebecca 1960s births 2017 deaths British poets British women poets British essayists British women essayists English Jews Year of birth missing