Rachael Boast

• Name — Rachael Boast • Born — 1975 • Birthplace — Suffolk, England, UK • Occupation — Poet and writer • Education — Wolverhampton University St. Andrew's University • Notable Works — Sidereal • Awards — Seamus Heaney Prize (2012) Forward Prize (2011) • Honorific Suffix — FRSL

Rachael Boast was born in Suffolk in 1975. She graduated from University of Wolverhampton, studying English and Philosophy. After graduation, she moved to the West Country for ten years. In 2005, Boast moved to Scotland to work on an MLit in Creative Writing at University of St Andrews She later was awarded a PhD, her thesis being "an examination of poetic technique with reference to The Book of Job." Boast's literary role models include: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Arthur Rimbaud, and poet, artist, and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. Boast published her first poetry collection, Sidereal, in 2011, her second collection, Pilgrim's Flower, in 2013, her third collection, Void Studies, in 2016, and her fourth, Hotel Raphael, in 2021. Her work was published by Picador Books. Boast's poetry has appeared in literary magazines, including Archipelago, New Statesman and The Yellow Nib. Her work has also appeared in the anthologies Stolen Weather (Castle House Press), The Captain’s Tower: Seventy Poets Celebrate Bob Dylan at Seventy (Seren), and Addicted to Brightness (Long Lunch Press). She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022. Boast spends her time in both Scotland and the West Country.