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Ken Smith

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Ken smith copy.160x252

Ken Smith (1938-2003). Courtesy University of Leeds Library.

Kenneth John Smith[1] (4 December 1938 - 27 June 2003) was an English poet.

Life[]

Smith was born in Rudston, Yorkshire, the son of a farm labourer, and had an itinerant childhood.[2]

He attended Leeds University and studied under Geoffrey Hill; Tony Harrison and Jon Silkin were fellow students at the time.[2]

He married Annie Minnis in 1960; they had a son and 2 daughters, but the marriage dissolved.

With Silkin, Smith co-edited Stand magazine, from 1963 to 1972.[2] He won an Eric Gregory Award for his debut pamphlet of poetry in 1964, and had his debut full-length collection published in 1967.[2]

In 1969 Smith took his family to the United States, where he was writer in residence at Slippery Rock State College in Pennsylvania, College of the Holy Cross, and Clark University in Massachusetts. His second collection, Work/Distances, was published in Chicago in 1972. He returned to Endland in 1973.[3]

Smith taught at Leeds University as a Yorkshire arts fellow from 1976 to 1978.[4]

In 1978 he began publishing with Bloodaxe Books, which would publish his work for the rest of his life. During the next decades he attracted a wider readership.

He remarried in 1981, to poet and artist Judi Benson, becoming stepfather to her son.[5]

From 1985 to 1987 he was writer in residence at Wormwood Scrubs prison, an experience that formed the basis of his prose account of prison life, Inside Time.[1]

He died from Legionnaire's Disease, contracted on a trip to Cuba.[2]

Recognition[]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

  • Eleven Poems. Leeds, UK: School of English, University of Leeds, 1964.
  • The Pity. London: Cape, 1967.
  • A Selection of Poems by Ken Smith. Gillingham, UK: Arc, 1969.
  • Work, Distances: Poems. Chicago: Swallow Press, 1972.
  • Frontwards in a Backwards Movie. Todmorden, UK: Arc, 1975.
  • Able Baker Charlie Delta Epic Sonnets. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1981.
  • Fox Running. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1981.
  • Burned Books. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1981.
  • The Poet Reclining: Selected poems, 1962-1980. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1982.
  • Terra. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1986.
  • Wormwood. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1987.
  • The Heart, the Border. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1990.
  • Tender to the Queen of Spain. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1993.
  • Wild Root. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1998.
  • Shed: Poems, 1980-2001. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 2002.
  • You Again: Last poems, and other words. Tarset, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2004.
  • Collected Poems. Eastburn, Hexham, Northumberland, UK: Bloodaxe, 2018.

Non-fiction[]

  • Inside Time (with Dave Wait). London: Harrap, 1989.
  • Berlin: Coming in from the cold. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1990.

Edited[]

Ken_Smith_in_Berlin-_five_poems

Ken Smith in Berlin- five poems

  • Klaonica: Poems for Bosnia (edited with Judi Benson). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Bloodaxe, 1993.
  • Beyond Bedlam: Poems written out of mental distress (edited with Matthew Sweeney). London: Anvil, 1997.


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[6]

See also[]

References[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ken Smith (Kenneth John Smith) Biography (1938–2003), JRank.org. Web, Mar. 2, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Ken Smith (1938-2003), The Poetry Archive. Web, Mar. 2, 2014.
  3. ↑ Jon Glover, Ken Smith, The Guardian, 3 July 2003. Web, Mar. 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Glover, Jon (3 July 2003). "Ken Smith:A poet of self-discovery". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/jul/03/guardianobituaries1. 
  5. ↑ "Ken Smith: Poet of ambition and real feeling". the Independent (London). 2 July 2003. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/ken-smith-548352.html. 
  6. ↑ Search results = au:Ken Smith, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Mar. 2, 2014.

External links[]

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