Neil Astley

Neil Astley (born 12 May 1953) is a British publisher, editor and writer. He is best known as the founder of poetry publishing house Bloodaxe Books.

Astley was born in Portchester, Hampshire, and grew up in Fareham, Hampshire. He was educated at Price's School, Fareham (1964–71), the Alliance Française, Paris (1972), and Newcastle University (1975–78; 1979–81). From 1972 to 1975 he worked in Leicester, Colchester, London, Paris and Australia, as a journalist, in publishing (Yale University Press), and as a press officer for Warner Brothers’ magazine division and for Lyons Maid ice cream. In his essay "The Story of Bloodaxe" he recounts two early life-changing experiences, the first in France in 1972 when he "spent six months in post-'68 Paris...and was radicalised)". The second was in Darwin, Australia, where he was working as a sub-editor on the Northern Territory News: "On Christmas Day, 1974, Darwin was destroyed by Cyclone Tracy. I was trapped under a collapsed house. This brush with death was enough to send me post haste to Newcastle, where I was soon working as a bus conductor while waiting to start my course." In Newcastle upon Tyne, while studying for his degree at the university, he worked as production editor on Jon Silkin's Stand magazine for three years, helped organise poetry readings at Morden Tower and became involved with small press editing and publishing.

Astley serves on the board of Ledbury Poetry Festival as a trustee as well as on the development committee of Cúirt International Literature Festival in Galway, Ireland. He was formerly an organiser of Newcastle Literary Festival, and as a director for three years of the Poetry Book Society he was responsible for the addition of poetry in translation to the book club's remit. He guest-edited the Spring 2015 issue of the American literary journal Ploughshares, the first all-poetry issue in its 44-year history. He has been a contributor to numerous radio and television programmes in Britain and Ireland, including the Today Programme, Front Row, Midweek and Start the Week on BBC Radio 4, The Verb on BBC Radio 3, GMTV's Sunday Programme, The Arts Show and Poetry Now on RTÉ.

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