Daphne Sampson was born in north London in 1950, and she started reading poetry as a moon-struck teenager. After growing up in Kent she worked in two wonderfully creative primary schools off the Old Kent Road, previously only known to her as that brown Monopoly card. This vibrant community had some of the exhilaration of the first plunge of a wild swim. She taught for two years in Kenya, which nourished her love of the natural world. Later, in Norfolk, with her young family, Daphne became involved in environmental campaigning. She had a severe stroke in 2020.