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Gillian Clarke (born 8 June 1937) is a Welsh poet and playwright, who also edits, broadcasts, lectures and translates from Welsh into English. She co-founded Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in
Gillian Clarke was born on 8 June 1937 in
Profile at Poetry Archive with poems written and audio
"The poet talks about her prose collection ''At the Source''"
BBC Woman's Hour, 13 May 2008 (audio, 10 mins)
"Making Beds for the Dead"
BBC Woman's Hour, 8 April 2004 (audio, 10 mins)
Carcanet PressReview of Gillian Clarke in the ''Guardian''Gillian Clarke poetry workshop in the ''Guardian''Gillian Clarke poetry translated into Chinese in ''Foreign Literature and Art''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Gillian 1937 births 20th-century Welsh educators 20th-century Welsh women educators 20th-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Anglo-Welsh women poets Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Glamorgan Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people Writers from Cardiff Bards of the Gorsedd Welsh–English translators BBC people Welsh magazine editors British women magazine editors
North Wales
North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
.
Life
Gillian Clarke was born on 8 June 1937 in Cardiff
Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...
.
Career
After university, Clarke spent a year working for theBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
in London. She then returned to Cardiff, where she gave birth to her daughter, Catrin, and two sons. About Catrin she wrote a poem under her name. Clarke worked as an English teacher, first at the Reardon-Smith Nautical College and later at Newport College of Art.
In the mid-1980s she moved to rural Ceredigion
Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...
, West Wales, with her second husband, after which she spent some years teaching creative writing
Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...
at the University of Glamorgan
The University of Glamorgan () was a public university based in South Wales, that merged with University of Wales, Newport to form the University of South Wales in April 2013. The university was based in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, with ...
. In 1990 she was a co-founder of Tŷ Newydd, a writers' centre in North Wales
North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...
.
Her poetry is studied by GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
and A Level
The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...
students throughout the United Kingdom. A considerable number of her poems are used in the GCSE AQA Anthology
The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (the AQA) has produced Anthologies for GCSE English and English Literature studied in English schools. This follows on from AQA's predecessor organisations; Northern Examinations and Assessment Board ( ...
. She has given poetry readings and lectures in Europe and the United States; her work has been translated into ten languages. Some of her English poems were translated into Chinese by Peter Jingcheng Xu and published in the journal ''Foreign Literature and Art'' (Issue 6, December 2016).
Clarke has published numerous collections of poetry for adults and children (see below), as well as dramatic commissions and articles in a wide range of publications. She is a former editor of '' The Anglo-Welsh Review'' (1975–84) and the current president of Tŷ Newydd. Several of her books have received a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. In 1999, Gillian Clarke received the Glyndŵr Award for an "Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales" during the Machynlleth Festival. She was on the judging panel for the 2008 Manchester Poetry Prize. Clarke reads her poetry for teenagers who are taking their English GCSE
The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
school exams. She is part of the GCSE Poetry Live team that also includes John Agard, Simon Armitage, Carol Ann Duffy
Dame Carol Ann Duffy (born 23 December 1955) is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is a professor of contemporary poetry at Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Poet Laureate in May 2009, and her term expired in 2019. She wa ...
, Imtiaz Dharker, Moniza Alvi, Grace Nichols, Daljit Nagra
Daljit Nagra (born 1966) is a British poet whose debut collection, ''Look We Have Coming to Dover!'' was published by Faber in 2007. Nagra's poems relate to the experience of Indians born in the UK (especially Indian Sikhs), and often employ l ...
and Choman Hardi.
In December 2013, Clarke was the guest on BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
's ''Desert Island Discs
''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...
''. She has written over 100 poems during her career.
Awards
In 2008, Gillian Clarke became the third National Poet of Wales. She held the post until 2016, when she was succeeded by Ifor ap Glyn. In 2010 she was awarded the Queen's for Poetry and became the second Welsh person to receive the honour. In 2011 Clarke joined theGorsedd
Gorsedd Cymru (), or simply the Gorsedd (), is a society of Welsh-language poets, writers, musicians and others who have contributed to the Welsh language and to public life in Wales. Its aim is to honour such individuals and help develop and p ...
of Bards. In 2012 she received the Wilfred Owen Association Poetry award.
The book ''Ice'' was shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2012.
Books
*''Snow on the Mountain''. (Christopher Davies), 1971 *''The Sundial''. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer), 1978 *''Letter From a Far Country''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
), 1982
*''Selected Poems''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
), 1985
*''Letting in the Rumour''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
), 1989
*''The King of Britain's Daughter''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
), 1993
*''Collected Poems''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
), 1997
*''Five Fields''. (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
), 1998
*''The Animal Wall''. Illustrated, for children. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer) 1999
*''Nine Green Gardens''. (Gomer Press / Gwasg Gomer), 2000
*''Owain Glyndŵr
Owain ap Gruffydd (28 May 135420 September 1415), commonly known as Owain Glyndŵr (Glyn Dŵr, , anglicised as Owen Glendower) was a Welsh people, Welsh leader, soldier and military commander in the Wales in the late Middle Ages, late Middle ...
''. (National Library of Wales), 2000
*''Making the Beds for the Dead'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
) April 2004
*''At the Source'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
) May 2008
*''A Recipe for Water'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
) April 2009
*''Ice'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
October 2012)
*''Zoology'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
July 2019)
*''Roots Home: Essays and a Journal'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
March 2021)
*''The Hours'' (Broken Sleep Books April 2021) (limited to 100)
*''The Silence'' (Carcanet Press
Carcanet Press is a publisher, primarily of poetry, based in the United Kingdom. Originally a student magazine devised by undergraduates collaborating between Oxford and Cambridge, it was refounded in 1969 by Michael Schmidt.
In 2000 it was nam ...
May 2024)
See also
*Anglo-Welsh poetry
Welsh writing in English, (previously Anglo-Welsh literature) is a term used to describe works written in the English language by Welsh writers.
The term 'Anglo-Welsh' replaced an earlier attempt to define this category of writing as 'Anglo- ...
References
External links
* *Profile at Poetry Archive with poems written and audio
"The poet talks about her prose collection ''At the Source''"
BBC Woman's Hour, 13 May 2008 (audio, 10 mins)
"Making Beds for the Dead"
BBC Woman's Hour, 8 April 2004 (audio, 10 mins)
Carcanet Press
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Gillian 1937 births 20th-century Welsh educators 20th-century Welsh women educators 20th-century Welsh poets 21st-century Welsh poets 20th-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh women writers 21st-century Welsh writers Anglo-Welsh women poets Alumni of Cardiff University Academics of the University of Glamorgan Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Living people Writers from Cardiff Bards of the Gorsedd Welsh–English translators BBC people Welsh magazine editors British women magazine editors