Lawrence Sail (born 29 October 1942) is a contemporary British poet and writer.

Biography

Sail was born in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and brought up in

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

. He studied French and German at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and subsequently taught for some years in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, before returning to the UK, where he taught at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the tim ...

and, later,

Exeter School Exeter School is an independent co-educational day school for pupils between the ages of 7 and 18 in Exeter, Devon, England. In 2019, there were around 200 pupils in the Junior School and 700 in the Senior School. History The School traces its ...

(where the modern languages department was headed by

Harry Guest Harry Guest (born Henry Bayly Guest; 6 October 1932 – 20 March 2021) was a British poet born in Wales. Life and career Harry Guest was educated at Malvern College and read Modern Languages at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He wrote a thesis on Ma ...

, another published poet). He is now a freelance writer. Sail has published nine poetry collections, the most recent being Eye-Baby (2006); The World Returning (2002), Building into Air (1995), and Out of Land: New and Selected Poems (1992), and has edited a number of anthologies, including The New Exeter Book of Riddles (1999) with

Kevin Crossley-Holland Kevin John William Crossley-Holland (born 7 February 1941) is an English translator, children's author and poet. His best known work is probably the Arthur trilogy (2000–2003), for which he won the Guardian Prize and other recognition. Cros ...

, and First and Always: Poems for Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital (1988). He also edited South-West Review from 1980 to 1985. Sail works in schools and colleges, and has also written a radio play, as well as short features for radio. He has presented the

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

programme 'Poetry Now' and 'Time for Verse' 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' ...

. He was chairman of the

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 ...

from 1990 to 1994, has directed the

Cheltenham Literature Festival ''The Times'' and ''The Sunday Times'' Cheltenham Literature Festival, a large-scale international festival of literature held every year in October in the English spa town of Cheltenham, and part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for t ...

, was the UK jury member for the European Literature Prize (1994–96), has been a judge for the

Whitbread Prize The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

and is 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 ...

Bibliography

*''Opposite Views'' Dent, 1974 *''The Drowned River'' Mandeville Press, 1978 *''The Kingdom of Atlas'' Secker & Warburg, 1980 *''South-West Review: A Celebration'' (editor) South West Arts, 1985 *''Devotions'' Secker & Warburg, 1987 *''Aquamarine''

The Gruffyground Press ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, 1988 *''First and Always: Poems for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital'' (compiler and editor) Faber and Faber, 1988 *''Water'' (Poem Poster) (wood-engraving by Hellmuth Weissenborn) Friends of Cheltenham Literature Festival, 1989 *''Air'' (Poem Poster) (wood-engraving by John O'Connor) Friends of Cheltenham Literature Festival, 1990 *''Fire'' (Poem Poster) (wood-engraving by Gwenda Morgan) Friends of Cheltenham Literature Festival, 1991 *''Earth'' (Poem Poster) (wood-engraving by Miriam MacGregor) Friends of Cheltenham Literature Festival, 1992 *''Out of Land: New and Selected Poems''

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

, 1992 *''Building into Air''

, 1995 *''The New Exeter Book of Riddles'' (edited with Kevin Crossley-Holland; illustrated by Simon Drew) Enitharmon, 1999 *''The World Returning''

, 2002 *''Cross-currents'' (essays) Enitharmon, 2005 *''Light Unlocked: Christmas Card Poems'' (edited with Kevin Crossley-Holland; illustrated by John Lawrence) Enitharmon, 2005 *''Eye-Baby''

, 2006 *''Waking Dreams: New & Selected Poems''

, 2010

Prizes and awards

*1992 Hawthornden Fellowship *1993 Arts Council Writers' Award *2004

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards () are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

References

*Extracted fro
The Open LibraryLawrence Sail
at Contemporary Writers 1942 births Writers from Exeter Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people English male poets {{England-poet-stub