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It's hard to imagine I know, but he was born in 1950, somewhere in Ethelbert Road, Canterbury, Kent, England. After being slapped, fed and given a few days to get over the shock, he was transferred to 47 Roper Road, his first home in that same city. His mother and father also lived there, which was quite nice. Sadly he didn't even get to go to school there. He was moved some forty miles away to Tonbridge, in March 1955. It was here that he attended Cage Green Primary School, enjoyed the company of some great kids, kissed the girls and started his first book (more or less in that order). In 2003 he finished the book. It took a mere 45 years to complete. This was a fantasy entitled 'Wumpleberries and Gronglenuts'. Naturally one or two other things happened in between. He became a teacher and lived in about thirteen different places in the U.K. and overseas. Since 1999 he has lived in Tenerife, Mexico, Paris (France), Chile and the USA. He lived in Houston, Texas from February 2004 and has been writing fulltime since then. It was early in this period that he also developed a passion for poetry. He returned to Devon, U.K. in October 2007.
Below are some of his literary achievements since becoming a fulltime writer. To the right are some photos from places he has visited around the world.
£1000 as winner of the 2005 Chapter One Promotions annual poetry competition and £500 as runner up in the 2009 competition.
$500 Winner of the 2006 Lucie Wood Poetry Contest.
Winner of the Birkbeck Arts Week Pantoum Competition 2010
Runner up in the 2005 Into Africa Poetry Competition.
2nd Place in the 2010 Educating Kenyan Orphans Poetry Competition.
3rd Place in the Torriano Poetry Competition 2009.
Highly Commended in the 2005 Momaya Press Short Story Competition.
highly Commended in the 2006 Ware Open Poetry Competition.
Specially Commended in the 2008 and 2009 Welsh Poetry Competition.
Specially Commended in the Autumn 2009 Sentinel Literary Quarterly Competition.
Shortlisted for the 2010 Plough Prize.
Shortlisted for the 2010 Huddersfield Literary Festival Poetry Competition
Long-listed for the 2008 Canterbury Festival Poet of the Year
Longlisted for the 2009 Torquay Poetry Festival Competition
Nominated for a 2006 Pushcart Prize
Twice judged the El Paso Writers Poetry Competition
Started the online quarterly poetry journal Words Myth
Been accepted into the Poets & Writers Directory of American Poets and Writers.
Had poems or short stories accepted in the following anthologies:-
101 Poets For a Cornish Assembly - Edited by Les Merton
(Boho Press)
Just Bite Me
Big Land, Big Sky, Big Hair--Best of the Texas Poetry Calendar
People of a Few Words
Become a member of the Academy of American Poets, The Poetry Society of Texas, Poets Northwest (a Houston chapter)
and is currently a committee member of The Moor Poets based on Dartmoor, Devon.
Been featured in the May 2008 issue of Devon Today magazine.
Pages and poems on the Poetry PF site.
Audio Poetry on PoetCasting
Commenced M.A. in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University
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