Brian Moses

Brian Moses (born 1950) is an English poet. He mainly writes for children, and is a well known children's poet.

Brian Moses is one of Britain's favourite children's poets, for both his own poetry and the anthologies he has edited. He has performed in over two and a half thousand schools across the UK and Europe. He is a Reading Champion for the National Literacy Trust, and is able to animate reading and writing poetry for pupils and teachers alike, in his workshops and in his resource books for teachers.

Brian’s interests range from the familiar - shopping trolleys, football matches - to the peculiar - monsters, aliens and angels. Often he will mix the two together in his poetry, so the 'Shopping Trolley' is souped-up like a futuristic sports car, while the monsters still go to school before coming home on 'The Ghoul School Bus'. Brian has a particularly sharp eye for surreal moments in daily life - the man in 'Walking with my Iguana', who walks his pet lizard on Hastings beach on a leash, is based on a real person.

Brian began writing poems when he realised he would never be a rock star - "I put the guitar to one side, but the songs carried on and became poems". That original musical influence can still be heard in his work; while he rarely sings, he performs so that pauses, tone of voice and speed become a central part of the poem. Few poets can hold a syllable so well as Brian, whether it's the hiss in 'The Snake Hotel' or the Tom Waits growl in 'Walking with my Iguana.'

Brian still kept music and a wonderful beat in his poem, his most famous poems are 'Ssssnake Hotel', 'Walking with my Iguana,' and 'What Teachers Wear in Bed.'

Brian writes and edits poetry and picture books for children, and resource books for teachers. His latest book for teachers is Able Writers in Your School (co-written with Roger Stevens), Brilliant Publications. His latest picture books are The Snake Hotel - a lift-the-flap book, and Animal Pants (Both from Macmillan). His poetry books and anthologies for Macmillan have sold in excess of 1 million copies.

Recognition
Moses was asked by CBBC to write a poem for the Queens 80th birthday.

He was invited by HRH Prince Charles to speak at the Prince's Summer School for Teachers at Cambridge University in July 2007. He was also one of 10 children's poets invited by the then Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion, to feature in a website as part of the National Poetry Archive - launched in November 2005. Address of site below.