Rebecca Swift
{{Short description|British poet and essayist (1964–2017)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = Rebecca Margaret Swift
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1964|01|10|df=y}}
| birth_place = Highbury, London, England
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|04|18|1964|01|10|df=y}}
| death_place =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Poet and essayist
| parents = Clive Swift
Margaret Drabble
| relatives = Adam Swift (brother)
Joe Swift (brother)
David Swift (uncle)
A. S. Byatt (aunt)
| education = Camden School for Girls
| alma_mater = New College, Oxford
| years_active =
| known_for = Co-founder of The Literary Consultancy
| notable_works =
}}
Rebecca Swift (10 January 1964 – 18 April 2017) was a British poet and essayist. She was co-founder in 1996 of The Literary Consultancy.
Biography
Rebecca Margaret Swift was born in Highbury, north London, the daughter of Clive Swift and Margaret Drabble.{{Cite web |url=http://islingtontribune.com/article/writers-friend-rebecca-supported-voices-of-the-marginalised|title=Rebecca Swift, writer's friend who supported voices of the marginalised |website=Islington Tribune|language=en-gb|date=2017-05-19|first=Emily |last=Finch |access-date=2019-05-07}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/obituaries/obituary-rebecca-swift-551446 |title=Obituary: Rebecca Swift {{!}} The Bookseller |website=www.thebookseller.com |first=Kamila |last=Shamsie |author-link=Kamila Shamsie |date=2017-05-23 |access-date=2022-10-20}} Her brothers are Adam Swift and Joe Swift.{{Cite news |last=Silgardo |first=Melanie |author-link=Melanie Silgardo |date=2017-04-25 |title=Rebecca Swift obituary |language=en-GB |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/apr/25/rebecca-swift-obituary |access-date=2019-05-07 |issn=0261-3077}}
As a student, Swift attended the Camden School for Girls and New College, Oxford.
From 1989 to 1995, she worked as a junior editor at Virago Press. She was made redundant after Virago was purchased by Little, Brown and Company. In 1992 and 1995, she published Letters from Margaret: The Fascinating Story of Two Babies Swapped at Birth, and Imagining Characters, respectively. She co-founded The Literary Consultancy, an editing company, in 1996 with Hannah Griffiths. The Literary Consultancy has helped many writers, including Prue Leith, Neamat Imam, and Jennifer Makumbi.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/literary-consultancys-rebecca-swift-dies-539961 |title=The Literary Consultancy's Rebecca Swift dies {{!}} The Bookseller |website=www.thebookseller.com |first=Benedicte |last=Page |date=2017-04-20 |access-date=2019-05-07}} In 2009, The Literary Consultancy became a founding member of the Free Word Centre.
In 1999, Swift wrote "Are You Reading Me?" for her master's thesis at the Tavistock Clinic. In 2001, she organised a bursary scheme to provide for free editing services to low-income writers. In 2011, she published Dickinson: Poetic Lives, a biography of Emily Dickinson. In 2012, she organised the first digital conference for writers in the United Kingdom, "Writing in a Digital Age" at the Free Word Centre. The conference discussed the current publishing landscape, including self-publishing.
Death
Swift died of cancer on 18 April 2017, at the age of 53.
In her honour, the Rebecca Swift Foundation was formed.{{Cite web |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/tlc-sets-foundation-and-poetry-prize-memory-rebecca-swift-788931 |title=Foundation and poetry award launches in memory of Rebecca Swift {{!}} The Bookseller |website=www.thebookseller.com |first=Natasha |last= Onwuemezi |date=2018-05-21 |access-date=2019-05-07}} In June 2018, it announced the Women Poets' Prize, to be awarded biennially to three poets, at the Second Home Poetry Festival.{{Cite web |url=https://publishingperspectives.com/2018/06/rebecca-swift-foundations-women-poets-prize-opens-uk/ |title=The Rebecca Swift Foundation's New Women Poet's Prize Opens for Submissions |date=2018-06-14 |website=Publishing Perspectives |first=Porter |last=Anderson |language=en-US |access-date=2019-05-07}} It will also provide support to winning poets, in partnership with affiliated organisations.
References
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Category:20th-century British essayists
Category:British women essayists