Gillian Clarke

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Gillian Clarke (b. 8 June 1937) is a Welsh poet who writes in English. She was born and brought up in Cardiff and Penarth, though for part of the Second World War she was in Pembrokeshire. Although both of her parents were native Welsh speakers, she was brought up speaking only English, and she learnt to speak Welsh as an adult. After graduating in English from University of Wales, Cardiff, she spent a year working for the BBC in London. She then returned to Cardiff where she married and had a daughter, Catrin - about whom she has written a poem of the same name - and two sons. She worked as an English teacher, first in the Reardon-Smith Nautical College, and later in Newport College of Art. In the mid 1980s she moved to rural Ceredigion, west Wales with her second husband, after which time she spent some years as a creative writing tutor at the University of Glamorgan.

She has published numerous collections of poetry for adults and children, see below, as well as dramatic commissions and numerous articles in a wide range of publications. She is a former editor of "Anglo-Welsh Review" (1975-84) and the current president of Ty Newydd.

Several of her books have received the Poetry Book Society Recommendation. In 1999 Gillian Clarke received the Glyndŵr Award for an "Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales" during the Machynlleth Festival. A considerable number of her poems are used in the GCSE AQA Anthology.

She is on the judging panel for the 2008 Manchester Poetry Prize.


Bibliography

Poetry

  • Snow on the Mountain. (Christopher Davies), 1971
  • Letter From a Far Country. (Carcanet Press), 1982
  • The Animal Wall. Illustrated, for children. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer) 1999 ISBN 1-85902-654-0
  • Heron at Port Talbot

[edit] External links

http://www.helium.com/items/852076-sittingby-gillian-clarkegillian-clarkes

Languages