Gillian Clarke (born 8 June 1937) is a

Welsh poet Welsh poetry refers to poetry of the Welsh people or nation. This includes poetry written in Welsh, poetry written in English by Welsh or Wales based poets, poetry written in Wales in other languages or poetry by Welsh poets around the world. H ...

and playwright, who also edits, broadcasts, lectures and translates from

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 peopl ...

into English. She co-founded Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

Life

Gillian Clarke was born on 8 June 1937 in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

. She was brought up in Cardiff and

Penarth Penarth (, ) is a town and 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 wealthy seaside resort ...

, 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

she was in Pembrokeshire. 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. 195 ...

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 the BBC 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 Newport College of Art. 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. C ...

, 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 literar ...

at the University of Glamorgan. In 1990 she was a co-founder of Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in

. 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 s ...

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 au ...

students throughout the United Kingdom. A considerable number of her poems are used in the GCSE

AQA Anthology The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (the AQA) has produced Anthologies for GCSE English and English Literature studied in English schools. This follows on from AQA's predecessor organisations; Northern Examinations and Assessment Board (NE ...

. 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'' (1975–84) and the current president of Tŷ Newydd. Several of her books have received a Poetry Book Society 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 a ...

for an "Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales" during the Machynlleth Festival. She was on the judging panel for the 2008 Manchester Poetry Prize. Clarke reads her poetry for teenagers who are taking their English

school exams. She is part of the GCSE Poetry Live team that also includes John Agard, Simon Armitage,

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, Moniza Alvi,

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 ...

, Daljit Nagra 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 Talk radio, spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history fro ...

'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 (us ...

''. She has written over 100 poems during her career.

Awards

In 2008, Gillian Clarke became the third National Poet of Wales. She held the post until 2016, when she was succeeded by Ifor ap Glyn. In 2010 she was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry and became the second Welsh person to receive the honour. In 2011 Clarke joined the

Gorsedd A gorsedd (, plural ''gorseddau'') is a community or meeting of modern-day bards. The word is of Welsh origin, meaning "throne". It is spelled gorsedh in Cornish and goursez in Breton. When the term is used without qualification, it usually r ...

of Bards. In 2012 she received the Wilfred Owen Association Poetry award. The book ''Ice'' was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2012.

Books

*''Snow on the Mountain''. (Christopher Davies), 1971 *''The Sundial''. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer), 1978 *''Letter From a Far Country''. ( Carcanet Press), 1982 *''Selected Poems''. ( Carcanet Press), 1985 *''Letting in the Rumour''. ( Carcanet Press), 1989 *''The King of Britain's Daughter''. ( Carcanet Press), 1993 *''Collected Poems''. ( Carcanet Press), 1997 *''Five Fields''. ( Carcanet Press), 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 W ...

''. (National Library of Wales), 2000 *''Making the Beds for the Dead'' ( Carcanet Press) April 2004 *''At the Source'' ( Carcanet Press) May 2008 *''A Recipe for Water'' ( Carcanet Press) April 2009 *''Ice'' ( Carcanet Press October 2012) *''Zoology'' ( Carcanet Press July 2019) *''Roots Home: Essays and a Journal'' ( Carcanet Press March 2021) *''The Hours'' (Broken Sleep Books April 2021) (limited to 100)

References

External links