Benjamin Myers was born in Durham in 1976. He is a journalist, poet, and award-winning author of numerous acclaimed novels, including The Gallows Pole (2017) - which won a Roger Deakin Award and the Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction - and The Offing (2019), which was a bestseller and BBC Radio 4 'Book at Bedtime'. His most recent book is his debut story collection, Male Tears. He lives in the Upper Calder Valley, West Yorkshire.