Linocut print of Stevie Smith by Paul Peter Piech.

Florence 'Stevie' Smith was an English poet and novelist. She worked as a secretary for 30 years before retiring in her fifties after experiencing mental health illnesses all her life. She published several collections of prose and letters as well as nearly a dozen volumes of poetry. Although her poems seem simple, Smith was a sophisticated poet. Her work dealt with suffering and death, and her macabre sense of humour was often shocking, as in her most famous poem, Not Waving But Drowning.