Matt Howard is a poet and environmentalist based in Norfolk who worked in various roles for the RSPB for more than a decade before moving to write and work in literature full time. He co-founded what is now the RSPB, BirdLife, CCI and Rialto Nature and Place Poetry Competition in 2011, served as a trustee and steering group member of New Networks for Nature, and currently teaches for and manages the University of Leeds Poetry Centre. His love of nature and birds, a deep commitment to Norfolk, and the close observation of key places, like Strumpshaw Fen, informs his writing.
In 2018 Howard was poet in residence with ASCP where he wrote, ran workshops and provided one to one support to CCI colleagues, as well as editing the poetry magazine Magma Issue 72 on Climate, with Fiona Moore and Eileen Pun. Eight poets were paired with eight CCI climate scientists to explore language and common ground. A major workshop on poetry and activism was also hosted.
His first collection Gall, which explores themes of ecology, wildlife and human connection to land won the 2018 East Anglian Book Award for Poetry, and the first Laurel Prize for Best First Collection in 2020. His second, Broadlands, was published by Bloodaxe in 2024, and he is working on a third collection following his 2024-2025 Laureate Fund residency with Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
