Reading, Peter Gray

(1946- )

   Born in Liverpool, he graduated B.A. in fine art and painting from the Liverpool College of Art, then worked as a school teacher in Liverpool (1967-1968) and at Liverpool College of Art, where he taught art history (1968-1970). He was writer in residence at Sunderland Polytechnic (1981-83). In 1997 he held the creative writing fellowship at the University of East Anglia. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has lived in Shropshire since 1970. His awards: Cholmondeley, 1978; Dylan Thomas, 1983; Whitbread Poetry, 1986; Lannan Foundation, 1990 and 2004. Some of his poetry publications: Water and Waste, 1970. The Prison Cell and Barrel Mystery, 1976. Nothing for Anyone, 1977. Diplopic, 1983. Ukelele Music, 1985. Stet, 1986. Final Demands, 1988. Work in Regress, 1997. Collected Poems, Poems 1: 1970-1984, 1995. Poems 2: 1985-1996, 1996. Poems 3: 1997-2003, 2003. Some of his poems: "Ballad," "Carte Postale," "Correspondence," "Perduta Gente," "Travelogue," "Ye haue heard this yarn afore."

   Sources: Antholog y of Twentieth-Century British and Irish Poetry. Keith Tuma, ed. Oxford University Press, 2001. Bloodaxe Books (http://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ personpage.asp?author=Peter+Reading). British Council Arts (http://www.contemporarywriters.com). Emergency Kit: Poems for Strange Times. Jo Shapcott and Matthew Sweeney, eds. Faber and Faber, 1996. 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 Faber Book of Blue Verse. John Whitworth, ed. Faber and Faber, 1990. The Faber Book of Drink, Drinkers and Drinking. Simon Rae, ed. Faber and Faber, 1991. The Faber Book of Vernacular Verse. Tom Paulin, Faber and Faber, 1990. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. The Penguin Book of Light Verse. Gavin Ewart, ed. Penguin Books, 1980. Who's Who. London: A & C Black, 2005.