Poet Olivia Byard, who lives in Witney, was nominated for a Forward Prize for her first collection, From A Benediction, and reviewed poetry for The Oxford Times for several years in the 1990s. Then she hit a period of writers’ block. The reclaiming of her poetic voice is one of the themes of her new collection Strange Horses (Flambard, £8). She teaches at Oxford University’s Department for Continuing Education.