Educated in Wales and Ireland, he has since lived in Rwanda, Germany and Scotland. He won an Eric Gregory Award in 2006, and has been shortlisted and highly commended in many other prizes, including the Manchester Poetry Prize, The Bridport Prize and the Wigtown International Poetry Prize. His first collection, The Salt Harvest, was shortlisted for the Rupert and Eithne Strong Award for Best First Collection. He lives in Lancaster with his wife and daughters, where he lectures Creative Writing at Lancaster University.