Martin Figura was born in Liverpool in 1956. He was ten years of age when his father murdered his mother. After a year in care, he was rescued by former neighbours with whom he lived happily in Crewe. Figura is a poet, photographer, winner of the 1975 RAPC Apprentice College Accountancy Prize and was recently described as a pleasant sixty-year-old gentleman (hospital referral letter). Figura has published many poetry collections.