Philip Hancock was born in Newchapel, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1966.He left school at sixteen to serve a City & Guilds craft apprentice-ship. His debut pamphlet Hearing Ourselves Think (Smiths Knoll,2009) was a Guardian Book of the Year. A second pamphlet, Just Help Yourself (Smiths Knoll), appeared in 2016. Jelly Baby, a film-poem, screened at various short film festivals and was published by Areté. City Works Dept. was published by Be in 2018.