John Douglas Mole (born 1941) is an English poet for adults and children, born in

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...

.Poetry Archive (GB
Retrieved 28 November 2017.
/ref> He is also a jazz clarinetist. Mole graduated from

Magdalene College Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

, Cambridge University, and began his career as a teacher. With the poet

Peter Scupham Peter Scupham (24 February 1933 – 11 June 2022) was a British poet. Early life and education Scupham was born in Bootle on 24 February 1933 to John and Dorothy Scupham. The family moved to Cambridgeshire and he was educated at the Perse School ...

he was co-editor of the Mandeville Press publishing house in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

. He married the artist Mary Norman. His papers are preserved at

Cambridge University Library Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of over 100 libraries Libraries of the University of Cambridge, within the university. The library is a major scholarly resource for me ...

Poetry

Mole has won several prizes for his poetry, including an

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by United Kingdom poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. Past winne ...

(1970), the

Cholmondeley Award The Cholmondeley Awards ( ) are annual awards for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966. Since 1991 the award has bee ...

, and the Signal Award for children's poetry. He was a writer in residence at

Magdalene College, Cambridge Magdalene College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary ...

and a poet in residence to the Poets Society in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

. He was also a poet in residence for the

Poet in the City Poet in the City is a London-based arts organisation founded in 1998 as a project of the Poetry Society; it became an independent charity in 2006. Poet in the City collaborates with partners from the arts and beyond, from the Barbican Centre, ...

charity scheme. Mole's many poems for children include "Variations on an Old Rhyme" and "The Balancing Man". Both of these discuss political issues in a way that points out their relevance to young people. ''Treatment'' is a string of poems that amounts to a personal response to a course of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

he underwent. A reading of his poetry for the Poetry Archive appeared on CD. It was made on 30 April 2003 at the Audio Workshop, London, and produced by Richard Carrington. His published volumes of verse include ''The Love Horse'' (Eric Morten, 1973), ''A Partial Light'' (Dent, 1975) and ''Our Ship'' (Secker & Warburg, 1979).

Libretto

Mole wrote the

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

for '' Alban'', a community opera composed by Tom Wiggall and performed in May 2009 in

St Albans Cathedral St Albans Cathedral, officially the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban, also known as "the Abbey", is a Church of England cathedral in St Albans, England. Much of its architecture dates from Normans, Norman times. It ceased to be an abb ...

. It was performed again in

Holborn Holborn ( or ), an area in central London, covers the south-eastern part of the London Borough of Camden and a part (St Andrew Holborn (parish), St Andrew Holborn Below the Bars) of the Wards of the City of London, Ward of Farringdon Without i ...

, London, in the autumn of 2010.

List of publications

PoemsJohn Mole, "The Point of Loss", Enitharmoan Press, 2011, p. i/ref> *The Love Horse (E. J. Morten, 1973, *A Partial Light ( J. M. Dent, 1975, *Our Ship (

Secker & Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, 1977, *From the House Opposite (

, 1979, *Feeding the Lake *In and Out of the Apple *Homing *Depending on the Light *Selected Poems *For the Moment *Counting the Chimes - Selected Poems 1975–2003 *The Other Day *The Bone in Her Leg * The Point of Loss (

Enitharmon Press Enitharmon Press is an independent British publishing house specialising in artists' books, poetry, limited editions and original prints. The name of the press comes from the poetry of William Blake: Enitharmon was a character who represented s ...

, 2011, * Treatment (2013)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mole, John 20th-century English poets 1941 births Living people Poets from London English male poets British children's poets 20th-century English male writers 21st-century English poets 21st-century English male writers