The Polish-born Maria Jastrzębska is a truly global poet whose translation into languages as diverse as Japanese, Finnish and Slovenian mirrors the variety and cultural richness of her poetry. The work is personal, negotiating tender and complex childhood memories, but also charged with a profoundly ethical awareness of wider questions of sexuality, nationality, language and illness.

Extensively anthologised, Jastrzębska's work has appeared in recent volumes such as See How I Land: Oxford Poets & Refugees (2009), Telling Tales About Dementia (2009) and Antologia (2010). Her drama Dementia Diaries was premiered in April 2009 by Lewes Live Literature and she is the winner of the 2009 Off Press International Writing Competition. Jastrzębska has pieces in upcoming publications in Finland and Romania and, alongside the translator and scholar Ana Jelnikar has translated Elsewhere (2011), the definitive English edition of leading Slovenian poet Iztok Osojnik's work. Her poetry collections are Syrena (2004), I'll Be Back Before You Know It (2008) and Everyday Angels (2009). She won a prize in the Fourth Troubador International Competition 2010.