John Anthony Connor (born 1930) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

poet and playwright.

Biography

Tony Connor was born in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. After leaving school at 14, he served in the British Army as a tank gunner, and worked as a textile designer between 1944 and 1960, and in radio and television in Manchester in the 1960s. He was a founder member of The Peterloo Group. He earned an MA at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...

"Tony Connor"
Poetry Foundation. in 1967 and in 1968 visiting writer at Amherst College in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

."Tony Connor"
Academy of American Poets. In 1961, he married the speech therapist, Frances Foad. They had three children: two sons, Samuel and Simon, and a daughter Rebecca. They divorced in 1979. From 1971 until he retired in 1999 Connor was professor of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

in Middletown, Connecticut. He lives in Middletown and London. He was a close friend of the English writer

J. G. Ballard James Graham Ballard (15 November 193019 April 2009) was an English novelist, short story writer, satirist, and essayist known for provocative works of fiction which explored the relations between human psychology, technology, sex, and mass med ...

and remains close friends with

Michael de Larrabeiti Michael de Larrabeiti (18 August 1934 – 18 April 2008) was an English novelist and travel writer. He is best known for writing ''The Borrible Trilogy'', which has been cited as an influence by writers in the '' New Weird'' movement. Early ...

. One section of Connor's 2006 anthology '' Things Unsaid'' is dedicated to de Larrabeiti; de Larrabeiti's 1992 book Journal of a Sad Hermaphrodite is dedicated to Connor, and includes one of his poems. Connor has published nine volumes of poetry. His work is anthologized in ''

British Poetry since 1945 ''British Poetry since 1945'' is a poetry anthology edited by Edward Lucie-Smith, first published in 1970 by Penguin Books. The anthology is a careful attempt to take account of the whole span of post-war British poetryMiddleton, Peter (2004"The ...

''. He has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 1974.

Bibliography

*'' With Love Somehow'' (1962) *'' Lodgers'' (1965) *'' Kon in Springtime'' (1968) *'' In the Happy Valley'' (1971) *'' The Memoirs of Uncle Harry'' (1974) *'' New and Selected Poems (Connor)'' (1982) *'' Spirits of the Place'' (1986) *'' Metamorphic Adventures'' (1996) *'' Things Unsaid: Selected Poems 1960-2005'' (Anvil Press Poetry, 2006)

References

External links

John Anthony (Tony) Connor fonds
at University of Victoria, Special Collections
Tony Connor
at Academy of American Poets. 1930 births Living people Wesleyan University faculty Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature English male poets {{UK-poet-stub