Connie Bensley was born in south-west London, and has always lived there, apart from wartime evacuation. Until her retirement she worked as a secretary to doctors and to an M.P. and as a medical copywriter. Her latest book from Bloodaxe is Finding a Leg to Stand On: New & Selected Poems (2012), which presents new work with poems drawn from six previous collections: Progress Report and Moving In, originally published by Peterloo Poets, and four later books published by Bloodaxe: Central Reservations (1990), Choosing To Be a Swan (1994), The Back & the Front of It (2000) and Private Pleasures (2007).