Funded by Arts Council England, Faber New Poets aims to identify and support emerging talents at an early stage in their careers. Through a programme of mentorship, bursary and pamphlet publication, the scheme offers four poets a year the time, guidance and encouragement they require to help in the development of their work in the longer term. Zaffar Kunial was born in Birmingham and currently lives in Cumbria where he has just become the 2014 Wordsworth Trust Poet in Residence. His poem Hill Speak was placed third in the 2011 National Poetry Competition. In 2012 he won a Northern Writers' Award of GBP5000. A graduate of the LSE, for the last five years Zaffar has worked as a full-time 'Creative Writer' for Hallmark cards in West Yorkshire. Hill Speak is his only published poem.