Mark Ford (born 1962

Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows throug ...

) is a British

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

. He currently serves as the Head of the Department of English Language and Literature at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

Life

Mark was born in Nairobi, Kenya on the 24th June, 1962 to Donald and Mary Ford. He went to school in London, and attended

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, as a

Kennedy Scholar Kennedy Scholarships provide full funding for up to ten British post-graduate students to study at either Harvard University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Susan Hockfield, the sixteenth president of MIT, described the schol ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. He studied for his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''l ...

at Oxford University on the poetry of

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

, and has published widely on nineteenth- and twentieth-century American writing, including on

Raymond Roussel Raymond Roussel (; 20 January 1877 – 14 July 1933) was a French poet, novelist, playwright, musician, and chess enthusiast. Through his novels, poems, and plays he exerted a profound influence on certain groups within 20th century French litera ...

. From 1991-1993 he was Visiting Lecturer at

Kyoto University , mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture , established = , type = National university, Public (National) , endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD) , faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff) , administrative_staff ...

in Japan. He is Professor of English in the Department of English Language and Literature at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. He is a regular contributor to the ''New York Review of Books'', ''Times Literary Supplement'', and the ''London Review of Books''.

Helen Vendler Helen Hennessy Vendler (born April 30, 1933) is an American literary critic and is Porter University Professor Emerita at Harvard University. Life and career Helen Hennessy Vendler was born on April 30, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts, to George ...

compared him with

Works

Poetry

* ''Landlocked'' (Chatto & Windus, 1992; 1998) * ''Soft Sift'' (Faber & Faber, 2001/Harcourt Brace, 2003). * ''Six Children'' (Faber & Faber, 2011). * ''Selected Poems'' (

Coffee House Press Coffee House Press is a nonprofit independent press based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The press’s goal is to "produce books that celebrate imagination, innovation in the craft of writing, and the many authentic voices of the American experience ...

, 2014)

Prose

* ''A Driftwood Altar'' (Waywiser Press, 2006). * ''Mr and Mrs Stevens and Other Essays'' (Peter Lang, 2011).

Anthologies

* ''New Chatto Poets: Number Two'' (Chatto & Windus, 1989). * ''London: A History in Verse'' (The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2012).

Biography

* ''Raymond Roussel and the Republic of Dreams'' (Faber & Faber, 2001).

Translation

* ''New Impressions of Africa'' (Princeton University Press, 2011).

Criticism

* ''Something we have that they don't: British & American poetic relations since 1925'' (University of Iowa Press, 2004). * ''This Dialogue of One: Essays on Poets from John Donne to Joan Murray'' (Eyewear Publishing, 2014).

References

External links

Podcast Interview with Ford by André Naffis-Sahely
1962 births 20th-century British poets Writers from Nairobi Kenyan poets Kenyan male writers Harvard University alumni Kennedy Scholarships Kyoto University faculty Living people British male poets 21st-century British poets 21st-century British male writers 20th-century British male writers {{UK-poet-stub