Linda Chase, an important figure on the Manchester poetry scene and beyond, has died after a short illness. A published poet with Carcanet, she was involved in the opening of the Manchester branch of the Poetry School, and, with her friend, musician Chris Davies, started the popular performance series Poets and Players, with venues in South Manchester, the Whitworth Gallery and St Ann's church in the city centre, showcasing new writers and musicians. She grew up on the North Shore of Long Island, and later moved to San Francisco and became a fan of the Beat poets.  After relocating to Britain and working as a theatre costume designer and t’ai chi teacher, she became involved in poetry around her 50^th birthday. In 1994 she published a pamphlet with Smith/Doorstop, whose title poem, Young Men Dancing, was included in the Forward anthology that year. A first collection, These Goodbyes, was published by the small press Fatchance in 1995. She enrolled at Manchester Metropolitan University on the MA course in creative writing, where the tutors included Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy, Jeffrey Wainwright, and Michael Schmidt, and later became a part-time teacher at MMU. By the time she graduated in 2002 her collection The Wedding Spy had been published by Carcanet. Another collection, Extended Family, was published in 2006. The proofs of her new book from Carcanet were sent to her just before her death and the volume Not Many Love Poems will be published later this year.