Minhinnick, Robert

(1952- )

   Born in Neath, South Wales, he studied at the universities of Aberystwyth and Cardiff, then after working as an environmentalist, co-founded Friends of the Earth (Cymru) and became the organization's joint coordinator for some years. He is advisor to the charity "Sustainable Wales" and edits the international quarterly Poetry Wales. He has published Watching the Fire Eater (1992), winner of the 1993 Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year Award, and Badlands (1996), essays about post-communist Albania, California, and the state of Wales and England. He has also edited Green Agenda, essays on the environment of Wales (1994). He lives in Porthcawl, South Wales. Some of his poetry publications: A Thread in the Maze, 1978. Native Ground, 1979. Life Sentences, 1983. The Dinosaur Park, 1985. The Looters, 1989. Hey Fatman, 1994. Selected Poems, 1999. The Adulterer's Tongue: An Anthology of Welsh Poetry in Translation, 2003. Some of his poems: "After a Friendship," "Catching My Breath," "Grandfather in the Garden," "The Ariel," "The Boathouse," "The Children," "The Drinking Art," "The Looters," "Twenty-Five Laments for Iraq."

   Sources: Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1980. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press, 1984. Anglo-Welsh Poetry, 1480-1990. Raymond Garlick and Roland Mathias, eds. Poetry Wales Press, 1993. British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. Michael Schmidt, ed. The Harvill Press, 1999. The Oxford Book of Garden Verse. John Dixon Hunt, ed. Oxford University Press, 1993. Twentieth Century Anglo-Welsh Poetry. Dannie Abse, ed. Seren Books / Dufour Editions, 1997.