Connie Bensley Biography

British poet, born in south-west London. She has worked as a secretary, a medical copywriter, and in a bookshop. Having married and raised a family she began writing poems for publication in 1976; within twelve months her work had begun appearing in leading literary journals. Her first collection, Progress Report (1981), was followed by further volumes, including Moving In (1984), Central Reservations: New and Selected Poems (1990), and Choosing to Be a Swan (1994). Bensley's writing is characterized by an incisive clarity and appealing wit. She frequently bases poems on her views of social and personal behaviour, producing work that combines a telling economy of observation with a compassionately understated sense of the satirical. She has also written a number of plays for television and radio.