mediate conflict in the Middle East and to improve relations between the Islamic and Western worlds. He is Vice-President of the Hay Festival of Literature, Chair of CIVIC Libraries Initiative, founder and Chair of Street Smart, Action for the Homeless, Founding Trustee of the Forward Arts Foundation and Trustee of the Grenfell Foundation. He is a former Council Member of the Arts Council England and Chair of its Lottery Panel. He has been a Trustee of the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, The Arts Foundation, the RSA, the British Human Rights and Reprieve, among other voluntary posts. Sieghart chaired and authored An Independent Review of E-Lending in Public Libraries in England published by Department Culture, Media and Sport, 2013 and was subsequently jointly commissioned by Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, DCMS, and Brandon Lewis, Minister for Communities & Local Government, DCLG, to consider and report on Public Library services in England. The "Independent Library report for England" was published by DCMS in December 2014. In September 2015, Sieghart was appointed Chairman of Somerset House Trust. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to public libraries. Sieghart has published many books and is a regular broadcaster. His most recent books are The Poetry Pharmacy, published in September 2017 by Penguin, and 100 Prized Poems – 25 Years of the Forward Books, published by Forward in association with Faber & Faber 2016. In September 2019, Vol. II, The Poetry Pharmacy Returns was published in the UK and Vol III The Poetry Remedy published in the USA by Penguin Random House in October 2019. Sieghart founded Forward Publishing in 1986, with Neil Mendoza, and turned it into one of the largest publishing agencies in the world. Forward published magazines in 131 countries for some of the world's largest corporations. The business was sold to WPP in 2001. References External links "We must adjust our distorted image of Hamas" The Times, December 2008. "Me and my partner: William Sieghart and Neil Mendoza" The Independent, June 1999. "The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2015 - Artists & Curators", Evening Standard, 16 September 2015. "The Power of Poetry", Intelligence Squared. Fiona Macdonald, "The words that can make us calmer", Culture, BBC, 27 September 2017. "From Publishing To Promotion 3: William Sieghart", poets.org, via YouTube. 1960 births Living people Alumni of St Anne's College, Oxford