Jane Weir is an Anglo-Italian poet who was born in Manchester and currently resides in Derbyshire, England. Weir has published three full-length collections, The Way I Dressed During the Revolution (2005), Anna Magnani, eat with me (2006), and Before Playing Romeo (2007), as well as various other literary works including pamphlets and biographies. Weir also works as a designer, specializing in the areas of textile design, fashion, and costume. In addition, she works as a fiction editor of the Iota literary magazine and as a literary critic. Weir received an M.A. with distinction from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Weir’s work spans multiple genres, including poetry and biography. In addition to her poetry collections, she has published a trilogy of poetic biographies—Walking the Block (2008), Spine (2012) and Mood Indigo (2014)—about two modernist printers, Phyllis Barron and Dorothy Larcher. She has also published a monograph on the poet Charlotte Mew, titled Between the Dome and the Stars (2007). Finally, she has published two poetry pamphlets: Alice (2006), and Signs of Early Man (2009), the latter of which focused on the literary and artistic history of the town of Derbyshire.
Weir has stated that her creative work often focuses on the process of writing itself. While her work is generally modern, it also draws on historical references such as the Italian Renaissance. Her poems also often include elements of textile and design, drawing on her role as a designer. Weir’s honors include the Dawson Jackson Award and the Scottish national Wigtown Poetry Prize. The Way I Dressed During the Revolution was shortlisted for the Glen Dimplex New Writers Award in 2006. Weir regularly does public readings and engages the public with her work.
“Poppies” is a poem written by Anglo-Italian poet Jane Weir. It appears in Exit Wounds, a collection commissioned by Carol Ann Duffy in 2009. Weir has described “Poppies” as “a contemporary war poem about war in its various guises.” The poem...
