Stevie Smith (1902-71) lived in Palmers Green, London, and for much of her life worked as a secretary for the magazine publishers Sir George Newnes and Sir Neville Pearson. Her first book, Novel on Yellow Paper, appeared in 1936, and her final collection of poems, Scorpion, was published posthumously in 1972. In 1966 she received a Cholmondeley Award and in 1969 was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry.