Oliver, Douglas

(1937-2000)

   Born in Southampton, Hampshire, he was brought up in Branksome, Dorset. After serving his National Service in the Royal Air Force, he was a journalist in Coventry and on the Cambridge Evening News. Fluent in French, he worked as translator for Agence France-Presse in Paris. In 1972, he read for a B.A. in literature at Essex University and taught part-time for five years until 1982, then took a lectureship at the British Institute in Paris. In 1987, Kind, his collected poems, was published. It was dedicated to his son, Tom, born with Down Syndrome and who died before his second birthday in 1969. From 1987 to 1992 Oliver lived in America and worked as a computer programmer in a cancer hospital and as a contact tracer for HIV patients, then returned to the British Institute in Paris. Some of his poetry publications: Kitchen Poems, 1968. O poetique, 1969. Penniless Politics, 1991. Arrondissements, 2003. Selected Poems, 1996. Whisper "Louise," 2005. Some of his poems: "Love in the Dark Valley," "Mongol in the Woods," "Snowdonia at a Distance," "The Infant and the Pearl," "When I Was in Bridgeport."

   Sources: A Various Art. Andrew Crozier and Tim Longville, eds. Carcanet Press, 1987. The Literary Encyclopedia (www.LitEncyc.com). Obituary of Douglas Oliver, The Independent (London), April 26, 2000, by Nicholas Johnson (http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20000426/ai_n14307041). Other: British and Irish Poetry Since 1970. Richard Caddel and Peter Quartermain, eds. Wesleyan University Press, 1999. 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 New British Poetry, 1968-88. Gillian Allnutt, Fred D'Aguiar and Ken Edwards, eds. Grafton Books, 1989.