Rowan McCabe was raised by a punk and a hippy on a Tyneside council estate. Showing an interest in poetry from an early age, he went on to study English Literature at Newcastle University.

He is the creator of North East Rising, a show of performance poetry about his love/hate relationship with his home town, and co-devised and starred in a short film for Channel 4’s Random Acts. He has toured the country in two stage shows based on his door-to-door poetry project.

His work is the subject of a BBC Radio 4 programme to be aired in October 2025.