The Autumn Poetry Reading for the Oxfam Poetry series went well last night - about 75 in the audience, we raised over £550. Seven poets read, their bios are below. There's one last reading in the series, on december 6.
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Chris Beckett grew up in Ethiopia in the days of Haile Selassie. He studied languages at Oxford, then worked in Australia and Japan at various jobs ranging from shipping clerk to prawn-warehouse manager and beef importer. For the last 15 years, he has been living in London and trading sugar on the international market. Chris won first prize in the Poetry London competition in 2001 and his first collection, The Dog Who Thinks He's a Fish was published by Smith Doorstop in 2004.
Mario Petrucci has degrees in optoelectronics and ecology. Now a poet, broadcaster, educator and RLF Fellow, he has created ground-breaking residencies at the Imperial War Museum, BBC Radio 3 and Southwell Workhouse. Heavy Water (2004) won the Arvon Prize and was the basis of an award-winning film on Chernobyl. He reads tonight from Flowers of Sulphur (2007), winner of both an Arts Council and New London Writers award.
Fleur Adcock was born in New Zealand but has lived in England since 1963. Her previous collections of poetry, now out of print, have been replaced by Poems 1960-2000 (Bloodaxe, 2000). She has also published translations from Romanian and Medieval Latin poetry, and edited several anthologies, including The Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry. She has two sons, six grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. In 2006 she was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
Chris McCabe was born in Liverpool in 1977. His first collection The Hutton Inquiry was published by Salt Publishing, in 2005. He discussed and read some of his poetry on BBC World Service on Armistice Day 2005 and featured a poem on the Oxfam CD Life Lines. A forthcoming pamphlet called The Borrowed Notebook will be published by Landfill this autumn. He currently works as Assistant Librarian at the Poetry Library, London.
Giles Goodland's last book was Capital published by Salt in 2006. Before that was A Spy in the House of Years (Leviathan, 2001).
Julia Bird works for the Poetry School and as a freelance literature promoter. She is currently working on a tour of poets and short story writers heading for arts centres and theatres in autumn 2007. Her poems have been published in various magazines and websites including Smiths Knoll, The Wolf, Tears in the Fence, and Limelight.
Matthew Sweeney. Most recent collection of poems Black Moon (Cape, 2007), and prior to that, Sanctuary (Cape, 2004), Selected Poems (Cape, 2002) and several earlier books of poetry. His work for children includes Up on the Roof: New and Selected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2001) and a novel, Fox (Bloomsbury, 2002). He is co-author, with John Hartley Williams of a chapbook, Writing Poetry (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997 – updated in 2002 and 2008) and has edited or co-edited a number of poetry anthologies including, The New Faber Book of Children’s Verse (Faber & Faber, 2001) and, with Jo Shapcott, Emergency Kit (Faber & Faber, 1996). He is currently working on a book of short stories. Born in Donegal in 1952, he has recently been resident in Berlin, Graz and Timişoara.
Mario Petrucci has degrees in optoelectronics and ecology. Now a poet, broadcaster, educator and RLF Fellow, he has created ground-breaking residencies at the Imperial War Museum, BBC Radio 3 and Southwell Workhouse. Heavy Water (2004) won the Arvon Prize and was the basis of an award-winning film on Chernobyl. He reads tonight from Flowers of Sulphur (2007), winner of both an Arts Council and New London Writers award.
Fleur Adcock was born in New Zealand but has lived in England since 1963. Her previous collections of poetry, now out of print, have been replaced by Poems 1960-2000 (Bloodaxe, 2000). She has also published translations from Romanian and Medieval Latin poetry, and edited several anthologies, including The Faber Book of 20th Century Women's Poetry. She has two sons, six grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. In 2006 she was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
Chris McCabe was born in Liverpool in 1977. His first collection The Hutton Inquiry was published by Salt Publishing, in 2005. He discussed and read some of his poetry on BBC World Service on Armistice Day 2005 and featured a poem on the Oxfam CD Life Lines. A forthcoming pamphlet called The Borrowed Notebook will be published by Landfill this autumn. He currently works as Assistant Librarian at the Poetry Library, London.
Giles Goodland's last book was Capital published by Salt in 2006. Before that was A Spy in the House of Years (Leviathan, 2001).
Julia Bird works for the Poetry School and as a freelance literature promoter. She is currently working on a tour of poets and short story writers heading for arts centres and theatres in autumn 2007. Her poems have been published in various magazines and websites including Smiths Knoll, The Wolf, Tears in the Fence, and Limelight.
Matthew Sweeney. Most recent collection of poems Black Moon (Cape, 2007), and prior to that, Sanctuary (Cape, 2004), Selected Poems (Cape, 2002) and several earlier books of poetry. His work for children includes Up on the Roof: New and Selected Poems (Faber & Faber, 2001) and a novel, Fox (Bloomsbury, 2002). He is co-author, with John Hartley Williams of a chapbook, Writing Poetry (Hodder & Stoughton, 1997 – updated in 2002 and 2008) and has edited or co-edited a number of poetry anthologies including, The New Faber Book of Children’s Verse (Faber & Faber, 2001) and, with Jo Shapcott, Emergency Kit (Faber & Faber, 1996). He is currently working on a book of short stories. Born in Donegal in 1952, he has recently been resident in Berlin, Graz and Timişoara.
Oxfam Books & Music Shop
91 Marylebone High Street, W1
91 Marylebone High Street, W1
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