Farnham Poetry Competition 2026

Linda Daruvala is the author of Selah and Hesed, both books of her own poetry published by Onwards and Upwards Publishers in 2021 and 2025 respectively. The poem Diamonds on the sole of his shoes inspired the commission of a beautiful painting which now hangs in St Mary the Virgin church in Charlton-on-Otmoor.

Her poem Forgiveness was highly recommended in the South Downs Poetry Festival in 2022 from 350 entries, and she performed at their evening festival event. She has been interviewed by UCB radio.

Linda grew up in Dorset, and fell in love with poetry while studying Thomas Hardy’s poems for O-level – she can still recite some of them! An only child, she has always found solitude a comfortable and creative space to inhabit.

Her Christian faith, travel, contemplation, quiet, photography and art all enable her to meditate and compose her poetry, reflections and prayers. Linda is now retired but was a primary school teacher and has two adult sons. Since being healed from Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in 2010, Linda has particularly relished the fresh blessings and opportunities of each new day.

Linda leads poetry and creative workshops in her church, St Alban’s, Hindhead. She sings in the church worship band and gospel choir, and her joy is to spend time at a little rented beach hut on Hayling Island. She loves listening to God, new travels, sunsets, watercolours and is known for her lemon drizzle cake!

Coral Rumble is a popular, award-winning poet, with five poetry collections: Creatures, Teachers and Family Features; Breaking the Rules; My Teacher’s as Wild as a Bison; Riding a Lion and Things That Should Be in a Poem.

She has also published almost 200 anthology contributions. The Adventures of the Owl and the Pussycat (picture book, illustrated by her daughter Charlotte Cooke), was longlisted for the ‘Oscars Book Prize’ Award. Coral won the Caterpillar Poetry Prize, 2018. Their latest book together, Mustafa’s Jumper, was published in 2019 (Wacky Bee Books). It is a story based on the award-winning poem, and gently explores the precarious position of seeking asylum.

​Coral’s debut novel, Jakub’s Otter was published in October 2024 (Troika Books).

Her collections have been featured in the ‘Best Books’ supplement of Junior Education Magazine, and selected as ‘choices’ by The Children’s Poetry Bookshelf. Riding a Lion illustrated by Emily Ford) was shortlisted for the North Somerset Teachers Award 2021, Things That Should Be in a Poem (illustrated by Shih-Yu Lin) won the Spark! School Book Awards 2023.

Her verse novel, Little Light (2021) was a recommendation for National Poetry Day 2021, and was a chosen text for Empathy Day 2022. It was long-listed for the UKLA Book Awards 2023.

In addition, Coral has delivered inset training for teachers, both independently, and on behalf of the Poetry Society and British Council, here and abroad, and works regularly on education projects. She enjoys helping children of all ages and abilities, to write poems they can be proud of, and works on the Able Writers scheme, organised by poet Brian Moses and Authors Abroad.

​Coral performs and gives workshops at art centres, museums, bookshops, libraries, theatres and festivals, as well as in schools, in the UK and abroad. She has given workshops in some unusual places, too, the grandest venue being Buckingham Palace!

​Coral contributed many poems to the popular Cbeebies TV programmes, Poetry Pie and The Rhyme Rocket. She is also the writer of the Pinkasaurus stories, that have been broadcast on Cbeebies Radio.