Christopher Reid
Christopher John Reid, FRSL (born 13 May 1949) is a Hong Kong-born British poet, essayist, cartoonist, and writer. In January 2010 he won the 2009 Costa Book Award for A Scattering, written as a tribute to his late wife, the actress Lucinda Gane. Beside winning the poetry category, Reid became the first poet to take the overall Costa Book of the Year since Seamus Heaney in 1999.[1] He had been nominated for Whitbread Awards in 1996 and in 1997 (Costa Awards under their previous name).
Biography
A contemporary of Martin Amis, he was educated at Tonbridge School and Exeter College, Oxford. He is one exponent of Martian poetry,[2] which employs unusual metaphors to render everyday experiences and objects unfamiliar. He has worked as poetry editor at Faber and Faber and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Hull.
Books
- Arcadia (1979) – 1980 Somerset Maugham Award, Hawthornden Prize
- Pea Soup (1982)
- Katerina Brac (1985)[2]
- In The Echoey Tunnel (1991)
- Universes (1994)
- Expanded Universes (1996)
- Two Dogs on a Pub Roof (1996)
- Mermaids Explained (2001)
- For and After (2003)
- Mr Mouth (2005)
- A Scattering (2009) – Book of the Year, 2009 Costa Book Awards[1]
- The Song of Lunch (2009)
- A Box of Tricks for Anna Zyx (2009)
- Selected Poems (2011)
- Nonsense (2012)
- Six Bad Poets (2013)
- For children
- All Sorts: poems, illustrated by Sara Fanelli (London: Ondt & Gracehoper, 1999) OCLC 48611316
- Alphabicycle Order, ill. Fanelli (Ondt & Gracehoper, 2001)
- As editor
- The Poetry Book Society Anthology 1989-1990 (1989)
- Sounds Good: 101 Poems to be Heard (1990)
- The May Anthology of Oxford and Cambridge Poetry 1997 (1997)
- Not to Speak of the Dog: 101 Short Stories in Verse (2000)
- Selected Letters of Ted Hughes (2007)[2]
See also
- Martian poetry
- Craig Raine
- The Song of Lunch (TV adaptation of his poem)
References
- 1 2 Adams, Stephen (9 January 2011). "Poet Christopher Reid is surprise winner of Costa Book of the Year". The Telegraph.
- 1 2 3 Payne, Tom (28 Jan 2010). "Christopher Reid: An Elegy". The Telegraph.
External links
- Christopher Reid at British Council: Literature
- Christopher Reid at Library of Congress Authorities, with 16 catalogue records
- Alphabicycle Order horn concerto at WorldCat – monologue with music (chorus with orchestra) by Colin Matthews