John Lucas (born 1937) is a poet, critic, biographer, anthologist and literary historian. He runs a poetry publishers called Shoestring Press, and he is the author of ''92 Acharnon Street'' ( Eland, 2007), which won the

Dolman Best Travel Book Award The Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards celebrate the best travel writing and travel writers in the world. The awards include the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year and the Edward Stanford Award for Outstanding Contribution to Travel Writing ...

in 2008.

Biography

Lucas was born in

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

in 1937. He has taught English at universities throughout the world, and is Professor Emeritus at the Universities of Loughborough and Nottingham Trent. He has written and translated over forty books, including critical studies of

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian er ...

John Clare John Clare (13 July 1793 – 20 May 1864) was an English poet. The son of a farm labourer, he became known for his celebrations of the English countryside and sorrows at its disruption. His work underwent major re-evaluation in the late 20th ce ...

and

Arnold Bennett Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...

, books on English poetry, an anthology of the works of

Nancy Cunard Nancy Clara Cunard (10 March 1896 – 17 March 1965) was a British writer, heiress and political activist. She was born into the British upper class, and devoted much of her life to fighting racism and fascism. She became a muse to some of the ...

, as well as a life of his maternal grandfather, which combines

biography A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just the basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or ...

with social history. In 2010 he published ''Next Year Will Be Better: A Memoir of England in the 1950s''. Since 2011, Lucas has also written several novels, including ''Waterdrops'' (2011). His collections of poetry include ''Studying Grosz on the Bus'', winner of Aldeburgh Festival Poetry Prize, ''A World Perhaps: New & Selected Poems'', ''Flute Music'' and ''Things to Say''. He has also edited an anthology, ''The Isles of Greece'', for Eland. For over ten years he was poetry reviewer for the ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

''. His most recent books include ''A World Perhaps: New and Selected Poems'', ''The Radical Twenties: Writing, Politics, Culture'', and ''The Good That We Do''. Lucas plays jazz cornet and trumpet with the Nottingham-based Burgundy Street Jazzmen. In 1994 he founded Shoestring Press.

Bibliography

* ''Tradition and Tolerance in Nineteenth-century Fiction: critical essays on some English and American novels'' (with David Howard and John Goode) 1966 * ''A Selection from

George Crabbe George Crabbe ( ; 24 December 1754 – 3 February 1832) was an English poet, surgeon and clergyman. He is best known for his early use of the realistic narrative form and his descriptions of middle and working-class life and people. In the 177 ...

'' (as editor) 1967 * ''The Melancholy Man: a study of Dickens's novels'' 1970 * ''About Nottingham: twelve poems'' 1971 * ''Literature and Politics in the Nineteenth Century: essays'' (as editor) 1971 * ''A Brief Bestiary: Poems'' 1972 * ''

, a study of his fiction'' 1974 * ''Literature of Change: Studies in the Nineteenth-century provincial novel'' 1977 * ''The 1930s: A Challenge to Orthodoxy'' (as editor) 1978 * ''Mansfield Park'' by Jane Austen (editor) 1980 * ''Poems of

G. S. Fraser George Sutherland Fraser (8 November 1915 – 3 January 1980) was a Scotland, Scottish poet, literary critic and academic. Biography Fraser was born in Glasgow, Scotland, later moving with his family to Aberdeen. He attended the University of ...

'' (edited with Ian Fletcher) 1981 * ''Romantic to modern literature: essays and ideas of culture, 1750-1900'' 1982 * ''The Days of the Week'' (poems) 1982 * ''Moderns and Contemporaries: novelists, poets, critics'' 1985 * ''The Trent Bridge Battery: the story of the sporting Gunns'' (with Basil Haynes) * ''

Egil's saga ''Egill's Saga'' or ''Egil's saga'' ( non, Egils saga ; ) is an Icelandic saga (family saga) on the lives of the clan of Egill Skallagrímsson (Anglicised as Egill Skallagrimsson), an Icelandic farmer, viking and skald. The saga spans the years ...

'' (translator, with Christine Fell) 1985 * ''Modern English Poetry from Hardy to Hughes'' 1986 * ''Selected Writings: Oliver Goldsmith'' (as editor) 1988 * ''Studying Grosz on the Bus'' (poems) 1989 * ''England and Englishness: ideas of nationhood in English poetry, 1688-1900'' 1990 * ''

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

: Selected Poetry and Non-Fictional Prose'' (as editor) 1990 * ''

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

: the Major Novels'' 1992 * ''Flying to Romania'' 1992 * ''New Lines from Leicestershire: a verse anthology'' (as editor) 1992 * ''

'' 1994 * ''Writing and Radicalism'' (as editor) 1996 * ''The Radical Twenties'' 1997 * ''One For the Piano: Poems'' 1998 * ''For John Clare: An Anthology of Verse'' 1997 * '' Robert Bloomfield: Selected Poems'' (as editor, with John Goodridge) 1998 * ''

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

'' 1998 * '' Stanley Middleton at Eighty'' (as editor, with David Belbin) 1998 * ''On the Track'' (poems) 2000 * ''

Ivor Gurney Ivor Bertie Gurney (28 August 1890 – 26 December 1937) was an English poet and composer, particularly of songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester. He suffered from bipolar disorder through much of his life and spent his last 15 years in ps ...

'' 2001 * ''Starting to Explain: essays on twentieth century British and Irish poetry'' 2003 * ''The Long and the Short of it'' 2004 * ''A World Perhaps: New and Selected Poems'' 2004 * ''Poetry: the Nottingham Collection'' (as editor) 2005 * ''Poems of

: from the Bodleian Library'' (as editor) 2005 * ''The Winter's Tale'' 2005 * ''Flute Music'' (poems) 2006 * ''92 Acharnon Street: A Year in Athens'' 2007 * ''Shakespeare's Second Tetralogy: Richard II - Henry V'' 2007 * ''I, the poet Egil : versions of the poems of Egil's saga'' 2008 * ''Harry Chambers & Peterloo Poets: 37 years of poetry publishing'' 2009 * ''Shoestring's Commons'' (as editor) 2009 * '' All My Eye & Betty Martin'' 2010 * ''The Isles of Greece: a collection of the poetry of place'' 2010 * ''Next Year Will Be Better: A Memoir of England in the 1950s'' 2010 * ''Things to Say'' 2010 * ''Waterdrops'' 2011 (novel) * ''Second World War Poetry in English'' 2013 * ''A Brief History of Whistling'' (with Allan Chatburn) 2015 * ''Portable Property'' 2015 * ''The Awkward Squad: rebels in English cricket'' 2015 * ''Ten Poems About Nottingham'' 2015 (as editor) * ''The Plotting'' 2016 (novel) * ''Summer Nineteen Forty-Five'' 2017 (novel) * ''Julia'' 2019 (novel) * ''Remembered Acts'' 2020 (novel) * ''The Life in Us'' 2021 (novel)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, John 1937 births Living people British non-fiction writers British travel writers British poets British biographers 21st-century British novelists