Andrew Motion
251950
224789393
2008-07-10T12:38:53Z
Flaming Ferrari
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'''Andrew Motion''', [[Royal Society of Literature|FRSL]], (born [[26 October]] [[1952]]) is an [[England|English]] [[poet]], [[novelist]] and [[biographer]], who is the current [[Poet Laureate]] for the [[United Kingdom]].
Raised in [[Stisted]] near [[Braintree, Essex|Braintree]] in [[Essex, England|Essex]], he was educated at [[Radley College]]. When he was 17, his mother had a riding accident and spent the next nine years in and out of a coma before she died. In the years that followed, he read English at [[University College, Oxford]], and studied the poetry of [[Edward Thomas]] for his MLitt. degree. Motion has said that he tried to keep his memory of his mother alive through poetry.
Andrew Motion is a member of the [[Arts Council of England]] and a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Literature]]. Beside the prizes mentioned above, he has won the Arvon/Observer Prize, the [[John Llewellyn Rhys Prize]] and the [[Dylan Thomas Prize]]. He is currently Professor of Creative Writing at [[Royal Holloway, University of London|Royal Holloway and Bedford New College]], [[University of London]].
His 1993 biography of [[Philip Larkin]] was responsible for bringing about a substantial revision of Larkin's reputation.
In 2003, Motion wrote a poem in protest at [[Invasion of Iraq]] called [http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1215.html "Regime Change;"] the poem is told from the third person [[point of view (literature)|point of view]], showing a speech made by [[Death (personification)|Death]] in the streets of Iraq.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/2912557.stm BBC News: "Poet laureate writes Iraq lament"] </ref>
In 2005 he helped to bring online [http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/home.do The Poetry Archive] containing both historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.
In February 2008 he was commissioned to write a poem in the honour of [[Harry Patch]], who is the last suriviving [[Tommy Atkins|Tommy]] to have fought in [[World War I]]. It was first read at a special event at the Bishop's Palace in Wells where it was received by Harry Patch.<ref>{{cite web|title=Poem honours WWI veteran aged 109|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/7279861.stm|publisher=BBC News Online|date=2008-03-07|accessdate=2008-03-07}}</ref>
In July 2008 he was appointed to the position of Chairman of the [[Museums, Libraries and Archives Council]] (MLA) by the [[Department for Culture, Media and Sport]].<ref>[http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/5237.aspx DCMS: "Andrew Motion appointed new Chair of the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council"]</ref>
==Biography==
* 1975: won the [[Newdigate prize]] for Oxford undergraduate poetry
* 1976: further poetry published
* 1976 - 1980: taught English at the [[University of Hull]]
* 1980 - 1982: edited the ''[[Poetry Review]]''
* 1981: wins [[Arvon Foundation]]'s International Poetry Competition with "The Letter"
* 1982: edits, with [[Blake Morrison]], the ''[[Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry]]''
* 1982 - 1989: Editorial Director and Poetry Editor at [[Chatto & Windus]]
* 1986: ''The Lamberts'' wins the [[Somerset Maugham Award]]
* 1989: Professor of Creative Writing at the [[University of East Anglia]]
* 1994: ''Philip Larkin: A Writer’s Life'' wins the [[1994 Whitbread Awards|Whitbread Prize for Biography]]
* 1999: appointed Poet Laureate for ten years only
* 2003: appointed Professor of Creative Writing at [[Royal Holloway, University of London]]
==Publications==
<small>Note: this list is not complete</small>
* 1972 ''Goodnestone : a sequence'' (a series of 18 untitled poems)
* 1978 ''The Pleasure Steamers'' - poetry
* 1981 ''Independence'' - poetry
* 1986 ''Elizabeth Bishop (Chatterton Lectures on an English Poet)''
* 1987 ''Natural Causes'' - poetry
* 1988 ''Philip Larkin (Contemporary Writers)''
* 1989 ''The Pale Companion'' - fiction
* 1992 ''Famous for the Creatures''
* 1993 ''Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life'' (biography)
* 1995 ''The Lamberts: George, Constant and Kit'' (biography)
* 1995 ''The Price of Everything''
* 1997 ''Salt Water'' - poetry
* 1998 ''Keats'' (biography)
* 1998 ''Take 20''
* 1998 ''Sarah Raphael: Strip!''
* 1999 ''Selected Poems 1976-1997''
* 1999 ''Babel''
* 2000 ''Wainewright the Poisoner: The Confessions of Thomas Griffiths Wainewright'' (biographical novel)
* 2002 ''Public Property'' (poetry)
* 2003 ''The Invention of Dr Cake''
* 2005 ''Spring Wedding'' (poem in honour of the wedding of the [[Prince of Wales]] and [[Camilla Parker Bowles]])
* 2007 ''The Five Acts of Harry Patch'' (poetry)
Dates unclear:
* ''Secret narratives''
* ''Dangerous play: poems, 1974-1984''
* ''Love in a life''
* ''Firsthand''
Edited works / Introductions:
* ''Thomas Hardy: Selected Poems'' (Everyman Library) (Editor)
* 1994 ''New Writing 3'' by Andrew Motion, Candice Rodd (Editor) (reprinted '94)
* 1981 ''Poetry of Edward Thomas''
* ''Verses of the Poets Laureate: From John Dryden to Andrew Motion'' by Hilary Laurie (Compiler), Andrew Motion (Introduction) (Paperback - September 1999)
* 1982 ''The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry'' by Ed. Blake Morrison and Andrew Motion
* 1981 ''Selected Poems: William Barnes'' (Penguin Classics) Andrew Motion (Editor)
* ''Here to Eternity: An Anthology of Poetry'' by Andrew Motion (Editor)
* ''Paper Scissors Stone: New Writing from the MA in Creative Writing at [[University of East Anglia|UEA]]'' by Andrew Motion (Introduction) (Paperback)
* ''May Anthology 2002 Poetry and Prose'' by Andrew Motion (Editor), Nick Cave (Editor) (Paperback)
* ''The Creative Writing Coursebook: Forty Authors Share Advice and Exercises for Fiction & Poetry'' by Julia Bell (Editor), Andrew Motion (Foreword)
* [[The Mays]]
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/obituaries/queen_mother/funeral_procession/poet.stm An Elegy to HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother] (see [[Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon]])—at [[BBC News Online]].
* [http://www.arvonfoundation.org/competition Arvon Foundation International Poetry Competition]
* {{contemporary writers|id=76}}
{{start box}}
{{succession box|title=British [[Poet Laureate]]|before=[[Ted Hughes]]|after=current incumbent|years=1998–present}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Motion, Andrew}}
[[Category:English poets]]
[[Category:English Poets Laureate]]
[[Category:English biographers]]
[[Category:English novelists]]
[[Category:English book editors]]
[[Category:Academics of the University of East Anglia]]
[[Category:Academics of Royal Holloway, University of London]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:People from Essex]]
[[Category:1952 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People associated with the University of Hull]]
[[Category:Old Radleians]]
[[Category:Honorary Fellows of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[bn:অ্যান্ড্রু মোশন]]
[[fr:Andrew Motion]]
[[he:אנדרו מושן]]