English poet Andrew McMillan was BOTD in 1988. Born in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, his father is the poet Ian McMillan. He studied at the University of Lancaster and at University College London, writing poetry in his spare time. His debut poetry collection Physical was published in 2015 to ecstatic reviews, praised for its muscular style and frank depictions of homosexual desire, and winning the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award. His 2018 collection playtime won the inaugural Polari Prize for LGBTQ writing. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020, he co-edited the 2022 poetry collection 100 Queer Poems. His debut novel Pity was published in 2024. Openly queer since forever, McMillan lives in Manchester with his boyfriend Ben, and teaches creative writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.