-She was the first child of her family and then had four brothers down the line (Scottish Poetry Library)

-She moved to Stafford and went to Roman Catholic grade and Middle School, then Stafford Girls High. (Scottish Poetry Library)

-Her love for English bloomed from two of her English teachers and develop Poet, Adrian Henry (Scottish Poetry Library)

-Continued her love for English with her Poetry and receiving many awards for them all such as the Scottish Arts Council Book Award, Somerset Maugham Award, and the Forward Prize and the Whitbread Prize. (Scottish Poetry Library)

-In 1996 she became a poetry lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University (Scottish Poetry Library)

-Became creative director of the MMU Writing School (Scottish Poetry Library)

-She received the Costa Book Award in 2011 and in 1993 (Britannica)

- She won the national Poetry competition in 1983 and an Eric Gregory Award in 1984 (Britannica)

-She received a Scottish Arts Council award in 1985 for her ¨Standing Female Nude¨ (Scottish Poetry Library)

She also would write Poetry challenging traditional social norms and holding strong stances over things to do with love, Feminism, and about the LGBTQ due to herself being Lesbian. (Britannica, Academy of American Poets)