Kit Wright (born 17 June 1944) is an English writer who is the author of more than twenty-five books, for both adults and children, and the winner of awards including an

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

Writers' Award, the

Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize The Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize is a British literary prize established in 1963 in tribute to Geoffrey Faber, founder and first Chairman of the publisher Faber & Faber. It recognises a single volume of poetry or fiction by a United Kingdom, Iri ...

, the

Hawthornden Prize The Hawthornden Prize is a British literary award given annually to a British, Irish or British-based author for a work of "imaginative literature" – including poetry, novels, history, biography and creative non-fiction – published in the pre ...

, the

Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize The Alice Hunt Bartlett Prize was awarded by the Poetry Society of London for a collection of poetry. It is named after Alice Hunt Bartlett who was the American editor of the society's ''Poetry Review'' from 1923 to 1949. The prize was establishe ...

and the Heinemann Award. After a scholarship to

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

, he worked as a lecturer at

Brock University Brock University is a public university, public research university in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. It is the only university in Canada in a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, at the centre of Canada's Niagara Peninsula on the Niagara Escarpment. The ...

, St Catherine's, in Canada, then returned to England and a position in the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

. He is currently a full-time writer.

Biography

Wright was born in Crockham Hill,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Educated at

, Wright moved to Canada to work as a lecturer. In 1970, he returned to London to work as an Education Officer for the Poetry Society until 1975. From 1977 to 1979, he was Fellow Commoner in Creative Art at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He subsequently returned to London and works full-time as a writer. He currently contributes monthly to ''

The Oldie ''The Oldie'' is a British monthly magazine written for older people "as a light-hearted alternative to a press obsessed with youth and celebrity", according to its website. The magazine was launched in 1992 by Richard Ingrams, who was its edit ...

'' magazine. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the ...

(FRSL) in 1997.

Awards

*1977:

(awarded for ''The Bear Looked Over the Mountain'') *1978:

(awarded for ''The Bear Looked Over the Mountain'') *1985:

Writers' Award *1990: Heinemann Award (awarded for ''Short Afternoons'') *1991:

(awarded for ''Short Afternoons'') *1995:

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 ...

*1997: Elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Literature The Royal Society of Literature (RSL) is a learned society founded in 1820 by King George IV to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". A charity that represents the voice of literature in the UK, the RSL has about 800 Fellows, elect ...

*1999: King's Lynn Award for Merit in Poetry *2009: Honorary Fellowship at the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

Bibliography

*''Soundings: A Selection of Poems for Reading Aloud'' (editor), Heinemann Education, 1975 *''The Bear Looked Over the Mountain'', Salamander, 1977 *''Arthur's Father'' (illustrated by Eileen Browne), Methuen, 1978 *''Arthur's Granny'' (illustrated by Eileen Browne), Methuen, 1978 *''Arthur's Sister'' (illustrated by Eileen Browne), Methuen, 1978 *''Arthur's Uncle'' (illustrated by Eileen Browne), Methuen, 1978 *''Rabbiting on and Other Poems'' (illustrated by Posy Simmonds), Fontana Lions, 1978 *''Hot Dog and Other Poems'' (illustrated by Posy Simmonds), Kestrel, 1981 *''Professor Potts Meets the Animals in Africa'', Watts, 1981 *''Hot Dog and Other Poems'', Puffin, 1982 *''Bump-Starting the Hearse'', Hutchinson, 1983 *''From the Day Room'', Windows Project, 1983 *''Poems for Ten Year Olds and Over'', Viking Kestrel, 1984 *''Poems for Nine Year Olds and Under'', Puffin, 1985 *''Cat Amorel, 1987 *''One of Your Legs is Both the Same: A Poem'', Turret, 1987 *''Poems 1974-1983'', Hutchinson, 1988 *''Short Afternoons'', Hutchinson, 1989 *''Puffin Portable Poets'' (contributor), Puffin, 1990 *''Funnybunch: New Puffin Book of Funny Verse'', Viking, 1993 *''Tigerella (illustrated by Peter Bailey)'', André Deutsch, 1993 *''Great Snakes'' (illustrated by Posy Simmonds), Viking, 1994 *''Dolphinella'' (illustrated by Peter Bailey), André Deutsch, 1995 *''Rumpelstiltskin'', Scholastic, 1998 *''Hoping It Might Be So: Poems 1974-2000'', Leviathan, 2000 *''Write Away'', Times Supplements, 2000 *''Ode to Didcot Power Station'', Bloodaxe Books, 2014

References

External links

Children's Poetry Archive article on Kit Wright''The Oldie'' magazineVideo of Kit Wright reading his poem ''The Magic Box'' to children
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Kit English children's writers 1944 births Living people 20th-century English male writers 20th-century English poets 21st-century British poets 21st-century English male writers Alumni of the University of Oxford English male poets Fellows of the English Association Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature People educated at Berkhamsted School