Sir Andrew Motion (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist, and biographer, who was

Poet Laureate A poet laureate (plural: poets laureate) is a poet officially appointed by a government or conferring institution, typically expected to compose poems for special events and occasions. Albertino Mussato of Padua and Francesco Petrarca (Petrarch) ...

from 1999 to 2009. During the period of his laureateship, Motion founded the

Poetry Archive The Poetry Archive is a free, web-based library formed to hold recordings of English language poets reading their own work. The Archive holds over 20000 poems and keeps the recordings safe and accessible so that current and future visitors can ...

, an online resource of poems and audio recordings of poets reading their own work. In 2012, he became President of the

Campaign to Protect Rural England CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a charity in England with over 40,000 members and supporters. Forme ...

, taking over from

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson (; born 8 December 1951) is an American–British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has b ...

Early life

Motion was born on 26 October 1952 in London, to (Andrew) Richard Michael Motion (1921-2006),Essex Clay, Andrew Motion, Faber and Faber, 2018, dedication page a brewer at

Ind Coope Allied Breweries was the result of a 1961 merger between Ind Coope (of Burton), Ansells (of Birmingham), and Tetley Walker (of Leeds). In 1978, Allied Breweries merged with the food and catering group J. Lyons and Co to form Allied Lyons. The bre ...

, and (Catherine) Gillian (née Bakewell; 1928–1978). Richard Motion was from a brewing dynasty; his grandfather founded Taylor Walker, but this had been absorbed by Ind Coope by Richard Motion's time. The Motion family were wealthy

armigers In heraldry, an armiger is a person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armigerous. A family or a cl ...

who lived at Upton House,

Banbury Banbury is a historic market town on the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, South East England. It had a population of 54,335 at the 2021 Census. Banbury is a significant commercial and retail centre for the surrounding area of north Oxfordshire ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primarily ...

, and were prominent in the local area; Richard Motion's grandfather Andrew Richard Motion was a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, Oxfordshire and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

, who had worked his way up from being a brewery labourer in the East End of London to ownership of his own successful brewery. When his children had grown up and married, he sold the Upton House estate and went to live at Stisted Hall, in Essex. When Motion was 12 years old, the family moved to Glebe House at

Stisted Stisted is a civil parish, Church of England parish, and former manor near Braintree, Essex, England. Andrew Motion, a former Poet Laureate, was raised there. History of Stisted Stisted parish was a peculiar, held by the Dean of Bocking under ...

, near Braintree in Essex, where Richard Motion's grandparents had previously lived at Stisted Hall, by that time converted into a home for the elderly. Motion went to

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

from the age of seven joined by his younger brother. Most of his friends were from the school and so when Motion was in the village he spent a lot of time on his own. He began to have an interest and affection for the countryside and he went for walks with a pet dog. Later he went to

Radley College Radley College, formally St Peter's College, Radley, is a public school (independent boarding school for boys) near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. The school covers including playing fields, a golf course, a lake, and ...

, where, in the

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

, he encountered Peter Way, an inspiring English teacher who introduced him to poetry – first Hardy, then

Philip Larkin Philip Arthur Larkin (9 August 1922 – 2 December 1985) was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, '' The North Ship'', was published in 1945, followed by two novels, '' Jill'' (1946) and '' A Girl in Winter'' (1 ...

W. H. Auden Wystan Hugh Auden (; 21 February 1907 – 29 September 1973) was a British-American poet. Auden's poetry was noted for its stylistic and technical achievement, its engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and its variety in ...

Heaney Heaney is a surname of Irish origin. It is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic ''Ó hEignigh'', thought to be based on the Gaelic a personal name meaning "horseman". It was mistakenly thought to derive from Éan, Gaelic for Bird. Versions of it ar ...

Hughes Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (surname) * Hughes (given name) Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hughes, Oates Land * Hughes Basin, Oates Land * Hughes Bay, Graham Land * Hughes Bluff, Victoria La ...

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

and

Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculos ...

."Profile: Andrew Motion, the poet laureate"
''The Sunday Times''. 14 September 2008. When Motion was 17 years old, his mother had a horse riding accident and suffered a serious head injury requiring a life-saving

neurosurgery Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty concerned with the surgical treatment of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, spinal cord and peri ...

operation. She regained some speech, but she was severely paralysed and remained in and out of coma for nine years. She died in 1978 and her husband died of cancer in 2006. Motion has said that he wrote to keep his memory of his mother alive.Andrew Motion Official website
Accessed 12 July 2010 When Motion was about 18 years old he moved away from the village to study English at

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the univer ...

; however, since then he has remained in contact with the village to visit the church graveyard, where his parents are buried, and also to see his brother, who lives nearby. At University he studied at weekly sessions with

, whom he greatly admired. Motion won the university's Newdigate Prize and graduated with a

first class honours degree The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

. This was followed by an MLitt on the poetry of Edward Thomas.

Career

Between 1976 and 1980, Motion taught English at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hull ...

and while there, at age 24, he had his first volume of poetry published. At Hull he met university librarian and poet

. Motion was later appointed as one of Larkin's literary executors, which would privilege Motion's role as his biographer following Larkin's death in 1985. In ''Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life'', Motion says that at no time during their nine-year friendship did they discuss writing his biography and it was Larkin's longtime companion Monica Jones who requested it. He reports how, as executor, he rescued many of Larkin's papers from imminent destruction following his friend's death. His 1993 biography of Larkin, which won the Whitbread Prize for Biography, was responsible for bringing about a substantial revision of Larkin's reputation. Motion was editorial director and poetry editor at

Chatto & Windus Chatto & Windus is an imprint of Penguin Random House that was formerly an independent book publishing company founded in London in 1855 by John Camden Hotten. Following Hotten's death, the firm would reorganize under the names of his business ...

(1983–89); he edited the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

's ''

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

'' from 1980 to 1982 and succeeded

Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with ...

as professor of creative writing at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. He is now on the faculty at the

Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars Founded in 1947, the Johns Hopkins Writing Seminars is an academic program offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in writing in the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts & Sciences at Johns Hopkins University. It is the second-oldest creative writing ...

Laureateship

Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of

Ted Hughes Edward James "Ted" Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest wri ...

, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack. He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for

the Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestant church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. The organisation reports a worldwide membership of over 1.7million, comprising soldiers, officers and adherents col ...

, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the ''Today'' programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and

Harry Patch Henry John Patch (17 June 1898 – 25 July 2009), dubbed in his later years "the Last Fighting Tommy", was an English supercentenarian, briefly the oldest man in Europe, and the last surviving trench combat soldier of the First World War from ...

for the BBC, and more recently about

shell shock Shell shock is a term coined in World War I by the British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers to describe the type of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) many soldiers were afflicted with during the war (before PTSD was termed). It is a react ...

for the charity

Combat Stress Combat stress reaction (CSR) is acute behavioral disorganization as a direct result of the trauma of war. Also known as "combat fatigue", "battle fatigue", or "battle neurosis", it has some overlap with the diagnosis of acute stress reaction used ...

, and climate change for the song cycle he finished for Cambridge University with

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

." On 14 March 2002, as part of the 'Re-weaving Rainbows' event of

National Science Week Science Week (sometimes National Science Week) refers to series of science-related events for the general public which are held in a specific countries during a designated week of the year. The aim of such science weeks is to engage and inspire pe ...

2002, Motion unveiled a blue plaque on the front wall of 28 St Thomas Street,

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

, to commemorate the sharing of lodgings there by

John Keats John Keats (31 October 1795 – 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley. His poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculo ...

and Henry Stephens while they were medical students at Guy's and

St Thomas' Hospital St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...

in 1815–16. In 2003, Motion wrote ''Regime change'', a poem in protest at the

Invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Ba'athist Iraq, Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one mont ...

from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict, and in 2005, ''Spring Wedding'' in honour of the wedding of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

Camilla Parker Bowles Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...

. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109-year-old

, the last surviving "

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

" to have fought in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Motion composed a five-part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008. As laureate, he also founded the

, an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work. Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to iswork". The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters. As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." Motion, Andrew (21 March 2009)
"Yet once more, O ye laurels"
''The Guardian'', Access date 2009-03-21. Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater,

, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was.

Carol Ann Duffy Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, resigning in 2019. She was the first ...

succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.

Post-laureateship

Motion is chairman of the Arts Council of England's literature panel (appointed 1996) and is also a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820, by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV, to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, th ...

. In 2003, he became professor of creative writing at

Royal Holloway Royal Holloway, University of London (RHUL), formally incorporated as Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, is a public research university and a constituent college of the federal University of London. It has six schools, 21 academic departm ...

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. Since July 2009, Motion has been Chairman of the

Museums, Libraries and Archives Council The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) was until May 2012 a non-departmental public body and registered charity in England with a remit to promote improvement and innovation in the area of museums, libraries and archives. Its function ...

(MLA) appointed by the

Department for Culture, Media and Sport , type = Department , logo = Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport logo.svg , logo_width = , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = Gove ...

. He is also a vice-president of the

Friends of the British Library The Friends of the British Library is a registered charitable organisation in the UK with close links to the British Library. It provides funding in the form of grants to the British Library in order to allow the Library to acquire new items a ...

, a charity which provides funding support to the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...

. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours list. He has been a member of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

's Blue Plaques Panel since 2008. Motion was selected as jury chair for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...

2010 and in March 2010, he announced that he was working with publishers

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

on a sequel to

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

's ''

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

''. Entitled ''Silver'', the story is set a generation on from the original book and was published in March 2012. In July 2010, Motion returned to

Kingston-upon-Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east o ...

for the annual ''Humber Mouth'' literature festival and taking part in the

Larkin 25 Larkin 25 was an arts festival and cultural event in Kingston upon Hull, England, organised to mark the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet and University of Hull librarian, Philip Larkin. The festival was launched at Hull Truck Theatre on ...

festival commemorating the 25th anniversary of

's death. In his capacity as Larkin's biographer and as a former lecturer in English at the

, Motion named an

East Yorkshire Motor Services East Yorkshire operates both local and regional bus services in the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire, England. Prior to acquisition by the Go-Ahead Group in June 2018, the company was known as East Yorkshire Motor Services. History ...

bus ''Philip Larkin''. Motion's debut play '' Incoming'', about the war in Afghanistan, premièred at the High Tides Festival in

Halesworth Halesworth is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in north-eastern Suffolk, England. The population stood at 4,726 in the 2011 Census. It lies south-west of Lowestoft, on a tributary of the River Blyth, upstream from Southwold. T ...

, Suffolk in May 2011. Motion also featured in '' Jamie's Dream School'' in 2011 as the poetry teacher. In June 2012, he became the President of the

. In March 2014 he was elected an Honorary Fellow at

Homerton College, Cambridge Homerton College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Its first premises were acquired in Homerton, London in 1768, by an informal gathering of Protestant dissenters with origins in the seventeenth century. In 1894, the co ...

. Motion won the 2015

Ted Hughes Award The Ted Hughes Award is an annual prize given to a living UK poet for new work in poetry. It is awarded each spring in recognition of a work from the previous year. Background The award was established in 2009 with the permission of Carol Hughes i ...

for new work in poetry for the radio programme ''Coming Home''. The production featured poetry by Motion based on recordings he made of British soldiers returning from the wars in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

and

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

. In 2017 Motion moved to Baltimore, Maryland to take up a post at the Writing Seminars as a Homewood Professor of the Arts at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

Work

Motion has said of himself: "My wish to write a poem is inseparable from my wish to explain something to myself." His work combines lyrical and narrative aspects in a "postmodern-romantic sensibility". Motion says that he aims to write in clear language without tricks. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' describes the stalwart poet as the "charming and tireless defender of the art form"."Andrew Motion: 'Poetry needs us to say that it matters'"
''The Independent'', 17 April 2009. Accessed 18 July 2010 Motion has won the Arvon Prize, the

John Llewellyn Rhys Prize The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize was a literary prize awarded annually for the best work of literature (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama) by an author from the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth aged 35 or under, written in English and publis ...

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...

, Whitbread Prize for Biography and the

Dylan Thomas Prize The Dylan Thomas Prize is a leading prize for young writers presented annually. The prize, named in honour of the Welsh writer and poet Dylan Thomas, brings international prestige and a remuneration of £30,000 (~$46,000). It is open to published ...

. Motion took part in the

Bush Theatre The Bush Theatre is located in the Passmore Edwards Public Library, Shepherd's Bush, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It was established in 1972 as a showcase for the work of new writers. The Bush Theatre strives to create a spa ...

's 2011 project '' Sixty-Six Books'', writing and performing a piece based upon a book of the ''

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

''.

Personal life

Motion's marriage to Joanna Powell ended in 1983."Andrew Motion: Poetic licence to thrill"
''The Independent'', 27 August 2006. He was married to Jan Dalley from 1985 to 2009, divorcing after a seven-year separation. They had one son born in 1986 and twins, a son and a daughter, born in 1988. In 2009 he married Kyeong-Soo Kim. He currently lives part of the year in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, in the United States.

Selected honours and awards

* 1975: won the Newdigate prize for Oxford undergraduate poetry * 1976:

* 1981: wins

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Ch ...

's International Poetry Competition with ''The Letter'' * 1984:

for ''Dangerous Play: Poems 1974–1984'' * 1987:

Somerset Maugham Award The Somerset Maugham Award is a British literary prize given each year by the Society of Authors. Set up by William Somerset Maugham in 1947 the awards enable young writers to enrich their work by gaining experience in foreign countries. The awa ...

for ''The Lamberts'' * 1987:

for ''Natural Causes'' * 1999: appointed

for ten years * 1994: ''Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life'', Whitbread Prize for Biography * 2009:

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised orders of chivalry; it is a part of the British honours system. Knights Bachelor are the ...

* 2014: Wilfred Owen Poetry Award

Bibliography

Poetry

;Poems * 1972: ''Goodnestone: A Sequence'' (in Workshop Poets No. 7). Workshop Press * 1976: ''Inland''. Cygnet Press ;Collections * 1978: ''The Pleasure Steamers''. Carcanet * 1981: ''Independence''. Salamander Press * 1983: ''Secret Narratives''. Salamander Press * 1984: ''Dangerous Play: Poems 1974–1984.'' Salamander Press / Penguin * 1987: ''Natural Causes''. Chatto & Windus * 1988: ''Two Poems''. Words Ltd * 1991: ''Love in a Life''. Faber and Faber * 1994: ''The Price of Everything.'' Faber and Faber * 1997: ''Salt Water'' Faber and Faber * 1998: ''Selected Poems 1976–1997''. Faber and Faber * 2001: ''A Long Story''. The Old School Press * 2002: ''Public Property''. Faber and Faber * 2009: ''The Cinder Path''. Faber and Faber * 2012: ''The Customs House''. Faber and Faber * 2015: ''Peace Talks''. Faber and Faber * 2015: ''Coming Home''. Fine Press Poetry * 2017: ''Coming in to Land: Selected Poems, 1975–2015''. Ecco Press * 2018: ''Essex Clay''. Faber and Faber * 2020: ''Randomly Moving Particles''. Faber and Faber ;List of poems

Criticism

* 1980: ''The Poetry of Edward Thomas''. Routledge & Kegan Paul * 1982: ''

''. (Contemporary Writers series) Methuen * 1986: ''

Elizabeth Bishop Elizabeth Bishop (February 8, 1911 – October 6, 1979) was an American people, American poet and short-story writer. She was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1949 to 1950, the Pulitzer Prize winner for Poetry in 1956, the N ...

. (Chatterton Lectures on an English Poet)'' * 1998: ''Sarah Raphael: Strip!''. Marlborough Fine Art (London) * 2008: ''Ways of Life: On Places, Painters and Poets''. Faber and Faber

Biography

* 1986: ''The Lamberts:

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

, Constant and Kit''. Chatto & Windus * 1993: ''

: A Writer's Life''. Faber and Faber * 1997: ''

: A Biography''. Faber and Faber

Memoirs

* 2006: ''In the Blood: A Memoir of my Childhood''. Faber and Faber

Fiction

* 1989: ''The Pale Companion''. Penguin * 1991: ''Famous for the Creatures''. Viking * 2003: ''The Invention of Dr Cake''. Faber and Faber * 2000: ''Wainewright the Poisoner: The Confessions of

Thomas Griffiths Wainewright Thomas Griffiths Wainewright (October 179417 August 1847) was an English artist, author and suspected serial killer. He gained a reputation as a profligate and a dandy, and in 1837, was transported to the penal colony of Van Diemen's Land (now th ...

'' (

biographical novel The biographical novel is a genre of novel which provides a fictional account of a contemporary or historical person's life. Like other forms of biographical fiction, details are often trimmed or reimagined to meet the artistic needs of the fiction ...

) * 2012: ''

Silver Silver is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-European/h₂erǵ-, ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, whi ...

''. Jonathan Cape * 2015: ''The New World''. Crown

Edited works, introductions, and forewords

* 1981: ''Selected Poems:

William Barnes William Barnes (22 February 1801 – 7 October 1886) was an English polymath, writer, poet, philologist, priest, mathematician, engraving artist and inventor. He wrote over 800 poems, some in Dorset dialect, and much other work, including a co ...

''. Penguin Classics * 1982: ''The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry'' with Blake Morrison. Penguin * 1994: ''

Thomas Hardy Thomas Hardy (2 June 1840 – 11 January 1928) was an English novelist and poet. A Victorian realist in the tradition of George Eliot, he was influenced both in his novels and in his poetry by Romanticism, including the poetry of William Word ...

: Selected Poems''. Dent * 1993: ''New Writing 2'' (With

). Minerva in association with the British Council * 1994: ''New Writing 3'' (With Candice Rodd). Minerva in association with the British Council * 1997: ''Penguin Modern Poets: Volume 11'' with

Michael Donaghy Michael Donaghy (May 24, 1954 – September 16, 2004) was a New York City poet and musician, who lived in London from 1985. Life and career Donaghy was born into an Irish family and grew up with his sister Patricia in the Bronx, New York, lo ...

and

Hugo Williams Hugo Williams (born Hugh Anthony Mordaunt Vyner Williams) is an English poet, journalist and travel writer. He received the T. S. Eliot Prize in 1999 and Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2004. Family and early life Williams was born in 1942 in ...

. Penguin * 1998: ''Take 20: New Writing''. University of East Anglia * 1999: ''Verses of the Poets Laureate: From

John Dryden '' John Dryden (; – ) was an English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who in 1668 was appointed England's first Poet Laureate. He is seen as dominating the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the per ...

to Andrew Motion''. With Hilary Laurie. Orion. * 1999: ''Babel: New Writing by the University of East Anglia's MA Writers''. University of East Anglia. * 2001: ''Firsthand: The New Anthology of Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia''. University of East Anglia * 2002: ''Paper Scissors Stone: New Writing from the MA in Creative Writing at

UEA UEA may stand for: Universities * University of East Africa, established in June 1963 and split, in 1970, into: ** Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda ** University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania ** University of Nairobi in Kenya * University of ...

''. University of East Anglia. * 2001: ''The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction & Poetry''. With Julia Bell. Macmillan * 2000: ''

: Poems Selected by Andrew Motion''. Faber and Faber * 2001: ''Here to Eternity: An Anthology of Poetry''. Faber and Faber * 2002: '' The Mays Literary Anthology''; Guest editor. Varsity Publications * 2003: ''101 Poems Against War ''. Faber and Faber (Afterword) * 2003: ''First World War Poems''. Faber and Faber * 2006: ''Collins Rhyming Dictionary''. Collins * 2007: ''Bedford Square 2: New Writing from the Royal Holloway Creative Writing Programme''. John Murray Ltd.

References

External links

Profile and poems written and audio
at the Poetry Archive
Profile at Poets.org

National Portrait Gallery portraits
*
''Guardian''
profile 13 December 2005 "Andrew Motion: Mr Speaker".
''Guardian''
"Andrew Motion on war poetry". Interview and reading. 27 July 2009 (Video, 8 mins)
BBC
profile

"Andrew Motion on being Poet Laureate" (Video, 4 mins)
BBC interview
"Andrew Motion's Hindu Wood Carving" (Video 4 mins)

from ''Keats,'' about John Keats, Fanny Brawne, and his poem for her, "Bright Star" * , Andrew Motion's Romanes Lecture (2011) at Oxford University (video)
Papers of Andrew Motion
at the British Library {{DEFAULTSORT:Motion, Andrew 1952 births Living people 20th-century English novelists 20th-century English poets 20th-century biographers 20th-century English male writers 21st-century British novelists 21st-century British poets 21st-century biographers 21st-century English male writers Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London Academics of the University of East Anglia Academics of the University of Hull Alumni of University College, Oxford British Poets Laureate English biographers English book editors Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Knights Bachelor People educated at Radley College People from Braintree, Essex The New York Review of Books people