Ben Wilkinson (born 1985 in Stafford,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a British poet, academic, and critic for ''

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 ...

''. He completed his first degree at the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, and his MA and PhD at Sheffield Hallam University. In 2014, he won both the Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition and a New Writing North Northern Writers' Award. He currently teaches creative writing at the

University of Bolton , established = 2004 – gained University Status 1982 – Bolton Institute of Higher Education , type = Public , endowment = £160,000 (2009) , administrative_staff = 700+ , chancellor ...

and lives in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, South Yorkshire. He is a keen amateur distance runner and has written variously on the subject.

Works

Poetry

* * * *

Edited volumes

Criticism

Awards

* 2018:

Forward Prizes for Poetry The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

(Highly Commended) * 2015: Arts Council England Writer's Grant * 2014: Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition * 2014: Northern Writers' Award * 2010: Picador Poetry Prize (shortlist)

Reviews

It's clear that the love of the beautiful game extends to Wilkinson's poetics, for he embraces a variety of forms and modes of address. From formally dexterous sonnets and sestinas, to epistles and endearing confessionalism, this is a book that likes to keep readers on their toes. Something Wilkinson does well is navigate the dark abyss of clinical depression ..from "going about / the tedium that strings our lives / together: paperchain people, / baskets lined under strip-lights" ('To David Foster Wallace'), to shivering over a beige Cornish pasty, "ticking over / before some godforsaken motorway service station" ('You Must Be Joking'), there is tenderness and touching honesty to be found in the darker moments he describes. For this reason the collection's title is apt, for its scope reaches way beyond the boundaries of the football pitch and the fabled buzz of excitement, which rather serves as a backdrop against which the poet can stand and inspect the state of his own thumping heart. - Jade Cuttle, ''The Poetry Review''

“I can’t make you feel what I felt” (David Foster Wallace), one of the epigraphs to Ben Wilkinson’s ''For Real'', is a challenge to which Wilkinson rises with considerable success. His poems are like doors “where no door was bricked up”; they frequently make us wonder how he got through. The same is true of his translations, especially “October”, a fresh and convincing version of
Verlaine Verlaine (; wa, Verlinne) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. On January 1, 2006, Verlaine had a total population of 3,507. The total area is 24.21 km2 which gives a population density Population d ...
. - Andrew McCullouch, ''The Times Literary Supplement''

Whenever I read Ben Wilkinson’s work I find myself admiring his craft. It carries a precision of thought and expression that’s hard to reproduce, in a syntax which is natural and a voice which is easy to hear, yet the poems abound with subtly used devices and effects. Wilkinson disguises his full-rhymes with enjambment, so the audience experience both form and ‘natural flow’ at the same time. He’s always conscious of form, but rarely lets form dictate to him. - Noel Williams, ''Antiphon''

References

External links

Author Page

Seren Books Seren Books is the trading name of Poetry Wales Press, a small independent publisher based in Bridgend, Wales, specialising in English-language writing from WalesFelicity Wood (23 August 2013). Rhyme and reason: The poetry market is a notoriously ...

Profile Page
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''Poetry London'' No.61 (Autumn 2008)
Two poems by Ben Wilkinson
Times Literary Supplement 'Poem of the Week'
'The Nightingale' by Ben Wilkinson {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkinson, Ben 1985 births English poets English critics People from Stafford The Guardian journalists Alumni of the University of Sheffield Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University Writers from Sheffield Living people Academics of the University of Bolton