A MUCH-loved York writer, naturalist and performance poet has died of cancer, aged 58.

Anneliese Emmans Dean’s award-winning 2012 book ‘Buzzing!’ brought the world of insects to life for children through a combination of quirky, unforgettable rhyming poems and Anneliese’s own photographs.

It was followed by a second book, Flying High!, about British birds, which also won awards.

Anneliese died peacefully at St Leonard’s Hospice on May 30, after many years of living with cancer.

Her husband Mike said she had been a ‘premier-league linguist’ who worked on the Oxford English Dictionary. “But she really hit her stride combining poetry, nature photography, education, and fun - not to mention environmental justice,” Mike said.

Anneliese had been a breast cancer survivor for 15 years. A year ago, she was operated on for uterine cancer. She initially recovered. “But it was aggressive and couldn’t be treated when it spread,” Mike said.

Having lived so long with cancer, Anneliese had drawn up a bucket list. “When she completed it - published, broadcast and anthologised award-winning poet, featured on Woman’s Hour, and so on - she made another list!” Mike said. “This remarkable woman was my love, my partner, and my best friend, for almost 30 years.”

Paying tribute to Anneliese, York writer, musician and storyteller Miles Salter said: “Anneliese had a winning smile and boundless energy. Her warmth and radiant smile will be missed by those who knew her.”

Anneliese Emmans Dean was born in 1963 in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The family moved to York when she was three. After attending Heslington Primary School and Queen Anne Grammar School, she went to Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge to study linguistics and phonetics.

After graduating, she won a British Council scholarship to study language in Mexico. Soon after arriving she was caught up in the 1985 Mexico City earthquake, and was initially reported missing.

Back in the UK she did work for the Oxford English Dictionary and set up an editing and translation business, Think Languages. She and Mike married in 1999.

In 2006, after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she took a year off to ‘discover what she really wanted to do’. She created a multi-media show about minibeasts. Buzzing! was born, and her life changed again.

Anneliese performed her poems for thousands of children in schools around the country, as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe. She often appeared on Radio 4 Today, and was featured on Radio York.

“Anneliese was graced with extraordinary clarity of being, “Mike said. “She was also one of the most unselfish and unassuming people I’ve known. In the last weeks, when the loving tributes poured in, it was a revelation to her how many lives she’d touched.”

  • Anneliese Emmans Dean, June 1, 1963 - May 30, 2022.

A funeral service will be held at York Cemetery Chapel on June 20 at 2pm. No flowers by request. A page dedicated to Anneliese has been opened on the MuchLoved website.