Motion, Andrew Peter

(1952- )

   Born in London and educated at Radley College, Oxfordshire, he graduated master of literature in 1977 from University College, Oxford, where he was a student of poet John Fuller (see entry). He taught English at Hull University (1976 to 1981), was editor of Poetry Review (1981-83) and poetry editor and editorial director at Chatto and Windus (1983-89). He became professor of creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London (2003) and poet laureate in (1999). Five universities have awarded him with honorary degrees, and he has received many literary awards. He has edited several anthologies and written biographies and fiction. Some of his poetry publications: The Poetry of Edward Thomas, 1980. Dangerous Play: Poems 1974-1984, 1984. Two Poems, 1988. Selected Poems by Thomas Hardy. 1994 (editor). Selected Poems 1976-1997, 1998. 101 Poems Against War, 2003. Some of his poems: "An Elegy on the Death of HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother," "Anne Frank Huis," "Leaving Belfast," "No News from the Old Country," "Reading the Elephant," "Spring Wedding" (in honor of the wedding of the Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles).

   Sources: Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. Golden Treasury of the Best Songs and Lyrical Poems in the English Language. Francis Turner Palgrave, ed. Oxford University Press, 1964, xixth edition, updated by John Press, 1994. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Some Contemporary Poets of Britain and Ireland: An Anthology. Michael Schmidt, ed. Carcanet Press, 1983. 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 Direction of Poetry: An Anthology of Rhymed and Metered Verse Written in the English Language since 1975. Robert Richman, ed. Houghton Mifflin, 1988. The Harvill Book of Twentieth-Century Poetry in English. Michael Schmidt, ed. The Harvill Press, 1999. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).