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Gillian Clarke (born 8 June 1937) is a Welsh poet and playwright, who also edits, broadcasts, lectures and translates from
Gillian Clarke was born on 8 June 1937 in
in London. She then returned to Cardiff, where she gave birth to her daughter, Catrin, and two sons. About Catrin she wrote a poem under her name. Clarke worked as an English teacher, first at the Reardon-Smith Nautical College and later at Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
into English. She co-founded Tŷ Newydd
Tŷ Newydd () is a historic house in Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. Since 1990 it has housed the National Writing Centre of Wales. The centre specialises in residential creative writing and retreats. The courses ar ...
, a writers' centre in North Wales
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, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
.
Life
Gillian Clarke was born on 8 June 1937 in Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
. She was brought up in Cardiff and Penarth
Penarth (, ) is a town and Community (Wales), community in the Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg), Wales, exactly south of Cardiff city centre on the west shore of the Severn Estuary at the southern end of Cardiff Bay.
Penarth is a weal ...
, though for part of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
she was in Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
. She lived in Barry Barry may refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name
* Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
for a few years, at a house called Flatholme in The Parade. Although her parents were Welsh speakers, she was brought up to speak only English and learnt to speak Welsh as an adult – partly as a form of rebellion. She graduated in English from Cardiff University
, latin_name =
, image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University
, motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord
, mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord
, established = 1 ...
.
Career
After university Clarke spent a year working for theBBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...Newport College of Art
The University of Wales, Newport ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Casnewydd), was a university based in Newport, South Wales, before the merger that formed the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university had two campuses in Newport, Caerleon ...
.
In the mid-1980s she moved to rural Ceredigion
Ceredigion ( , , ) is a county in the west of Wales, corresponding to the historic county of Cardiganshire. During the second half of the first millennium Ceredigion was a minor kingdom. It has been administered as a county since 1282. Cere ...
, West Wales, with her second husband, after which she spent some years teaching creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...
at the University of Glamorgan
, image_name = University of Glamorgan arms.png
, image_size = 220px
, caption = University of Glamorgan coat of arms
, motto = Success Through Endeavour
, established =
, closed =
, administrative_staff =
, chancellor = John Morris ...
. In 1990 she was a co-founder of Tŷ Newydd
Tŷ Newydd () is a historic house in Llanystumdwy, near Criccieth, in Gwynedd, north-west Wales. Since 1990 it has housed the National Writing Centre of Wales. The centre specialises in residential creative writing and retreats. The courses ar ...
, a writers' centre in North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
.
Her poetry is studied by GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
and A Level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...
students throughout the United Kingdom. A considerable number of her poems are used in the GCSE AQA Anthology. She has given poetry readings and lectures in Europe and the United States; her work has been translated into ten languages. Some of her English poems were translated into Chinese by Peter Jingcheng Xu and published in the journal ''Foreign Literature and Art'' (Issue 6, December 2016).
Clarke has published numerous collections of poetry for adults and children (see below), as well as dramatic commissions and numerous articles in a wide range of publications. She is a former editor of ''The Anglo-Welsh Review
''The Anglo-Welsh Review'' was a literary and cultural magazine published in Wales between 1949 and 1988. Its original title was ″Dock Leaves″, a reference to the fact that it was published in Pembroke Dock, the town in which its founding edito ...
'' (1975–84) and the current president of Tŷ Newydd. Several of her books have received a Poetry Book Society
The Poetry Book Society (PBS) was founded in 1953 by T. S. Eliot and friends, including Sir Basil Blackwell, "to propagate the art of poetry". Eric Walter White was secretary from December 1953 until 1971, and was subsequently the society's chair ...
Recommendation. In 1999 Gillian Clarke received the Glyndŵr Award
The Glyndŵr Award (Welsh: Gwobr Glyndŵr) is made for an outstanding contribution to the arts in Wales. It is given by the Machynlleth Tabernacle Trust to pre-eminent figures in music, art and literature in rotation. The award takes its name aft ...
for an "Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales" during the Machynlleth Festival
The Machynlleth Festival takes place in the Auditorium of The Tabernacle, Machynlleth, Wales in late August every year. During the week eminent performers take part in events ranging from recitals for children to jazz.
Events
The festival begi ...
. She was on the judging panel for the 2008 Manchester Poetry Prize. Clarke reads her poetry for teenagers who are taking their English GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...
school exams. She is part of the GCSE Poetry Live team that also includes John Agard
John Agard FRSL (born 21 June 1949 in British Guiana) is an Afro-Guyanese playwright, poet and children's writer, now living in Britain. In 2012, he was selected for the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.
, Simon Armitage
Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds.
He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...
, 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 ...
, Imtiaz Dharker
Imtiaz Dharker (born 31 January 1954) is a Pakistan-born British full time poet, artist, and video film maker. She won the Queen's Gold Medal for her English poetry and was appointed Chancellor of Newcastle University from January 2020.
In 201 ...
, Moniza Alvi
Moniza Alvi (born 2 February 1954) is a Pakistani-British poet and writer. She has won several well-known prizes for her verse.
Life and education
Moniza Alvi was born in Lahore, Pakistan, to a Pakistani father and a British mother. Her father ...
, Grace Nichols
Grace Nichols FRSL (born 1950) is a Guyanese poet who moved to Britain in 1977, before which she worked as a teacher and journalist in Guyana. Her first collection, ''I is a Long-Memoried Woman'' (1983), won the Commonwealth Poetry Prize. In D ...
, Daljit Nagra
Daljit Nagra (born 1966) is a British poet whose debut collection, ''Look We Have Coming to Dover!'' – a title alluding to W. H. Auden's ''Look, Stranger!'', D. H. Lawrence's ''Look! We Have Come Through!'' and by epigraph also to Matthew Arn ...
and Choman Hardi.
In December 2013 Clarke was the guest on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
's ''Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...
''. She has written over 100 poems during her career.
Awards
In 2008, Gillian Clarke became the thirdNational Poet of Wales
The post of National Poet of Wales ( cy, Bardd Cenedlaethol Cymru) was established in May 2005 by Academi – the Welsh National Literature Promotion Agency and Society for Writers. The current holder of the position is Hanan Issa, who was appoin ...
. She held the post until 2016, when she was succeeded by Ifor ap Glyn
Ifor ap Glyn (born 1961) is a Welsh television presenter and Welsh-language poet.Gorsedd of Bards. In 2012 she received the Wilfred Owen Association Poetry award.
The book ''Ice'' was shortlisted for the
Profile at Poetry Archive with poems written and audio
"The poet talks about her prose collection ''At the Source''"
BBC Woman's Hour, 13 May 2008 (audio, 10 mins)
"Making Beds for the Dead"
BBC Woman's Hour, 8 April 2004 (audio, 10 mins)
Carcanet PressReview of Gillian Clarke in the ''Guardian''Gillian Clarke poetry workshop in the ''Guardian''Gillian Clarke poetry translated into Chinese in ''Foreign Literature and Art''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Gillian 1937 births 20th-century Welsh educators 20th-century women educators 20th-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Anglo-Welsh women poets Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Glamorgan Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people Writers from Cardiff Bards of the Gorsedd Welsh–English translators BBC people Welsh magazine editors Women magazine editors
T. S. Eliot Prize
The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...
in 2012.
Books
*''Snow on the Mountain''. (Christopher Davies), 1971 *''The Sundial''. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer), 1978 *''Letter From a Far Country''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), 1982
*''Selected Poems''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), 1985
*''Letting in the Rumour''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), 1989
*''The King of Britain's Daughter''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), 1993
*''Collected Poems''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), 1997
*''Five Fields''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
), 1998
*''The Animal Wall''. Illustrated, for children. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer) 1999
*''Nine Green Gardens''. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer), 2000
*''Owain Glyndŵr
Owain ap Gruffydd (), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr or Glyn Dŵr (, anglicised as Owen Glendower), was a Welsh leader, soldier and military commander who led a 15 year long Welsh War of Independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wa ...
''. (National Library of Wales), 2000
*''Making the Beds for the Dead'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
) April 2004
*''At the Source'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
) May 2008
*''A Recipe for Water'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
) April 2009
*''Ice'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
October 2012)
*''Zoology'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
July 2019)
*''Roots Home: Essays and a Journal'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom and founded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was named the '' Sunday Times'' millennium Small Publisher of the Year.
History
''Carcanet'' was originally a li ...
March 2021)
*''The Hours'' (Broken Sleep Books April 2021) (limited to 100)
See also
*Anglo-Welsh poetry
Welsh writing in English ( Welsh: ''Llenyddiaeth Gymreig yn Saesneg''), (previously Anglo-Welsh literature) is a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers.
The term ‘Anglo-Welsh’ replaced an earlier atte ...
References
External links
* *Profile at Poetry Archive with poems written and audio
"The poet talks about her prose collection ''At the Source''"
BBC Woman's Hour, 13 May 2008 (audio, 10 mins)
"Making Beds for the Dead"
BBC Woman's Hour, 8 April 2004 (audio, 10 mins)
Carcanet Press
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Gillian 1937 births 20th-century Welsh educators 20th-century women educators 20th-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Anglo-Welsh women poets Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Glamorgan Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people Writers from Cardiff Bards of the Gorsedd Welsh–English translators BBC people Welsh magazine editors Women magazine editors