Petrucci, Mario

(1958- )

   Originally a natural sciences graduate with a Ph.D. in optoelectronics, he now works as a freelance creative writing tutor, broadcaster and educator. Mario's poetry and prose have been published in the U.K., in Canada, Australia, USA and Italy (in translation). In 1999 he became the first resident poet at the Imperial War Museum, London. Some of his poems are on display there and at the new Imperial War Museum North, Manchester. He cofounded the award-winning collaborative performance poetry group ShadoWork, and won the London Writers Competition in 1993, 1998, 2004, and 2005. The BBC commissioned him as Radio 3's first poet-in-residence, and he is currently a Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, Headington, Oxford. Some of his poetry publications: Departures, 1991. Shrapnel and Sheets, 1996. Bosco, 1999. The Stamina of Sheep, 2002. Half Life: Poems for Chernobyl, 2004. Heavy Water: A Poem for Chernobyl, 2004 (awarded the 2002 Arvon/Daily Telegraph International Poetry Prize, arguably the most coveted poetry prize in the UK). Catullus, 2006. Some of his poems: "Ambient," "Light," "Miss Muffet," "Negatives," "The Liberation of Berlin Zoo."

   Sources: British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). Mario Petrucci's Home Page (http://mariopetrucci.port5.com/index.htm). Personal correspondence. ShadoWork (http://mariopetrucci.port5.com/shadowork.htm).