Helen Thomas was widowed when her husband the war poet Edward Thomas was killed at the battle of Arras in 1917, and was left to bring up their three young children. On the centenary of the First World War Imagining Helen Thomas explores her loss, and the loss of all war widows, through poetry, prose and art. The book is one aspect of a wider project on war and widowhood by Rees-Jones and Hodes commissioned by the Ledbury Poetry Festival, which includes poetry, art, animation, performance, creative writing and education.

Deryn Rees-Jones is a leading UK poet and academic. Seren has published her four poetry collections, most recently Burying the Wren (2011) which was shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize and the poetry section of Wales Book of the Year.

Charlotte Hodes is a painter, ceramicist and collage maker on women's subjects who has exhibited widely.