At the age of six, when asked the usual question about what she wanted to be when she grew up, Susan Richardson replied, 'I want to travel round the world and write about animals.' She is the author of four collections of poetry, the most recent of which, Words the Turtle Taught Me, themed around endangered ocean species, emerged from her residency with the Marine Conservation Society and was shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award. In addition to her ongoing writing residency with the British Animal Studies Network, facilitated by the University of Strathclyde, she has shared her work on BBC Two and Radio 3, and enjoyed a four-year stint as one of the poet-performers on Radio 4's Saturday Live.