John Sewell
John Sewell was born in South Yorkshire and educated in Scotland. Unable to choose between studying Art or English, he chose Architecture instead, (winning in his first year the Strathclyde University Poetry Competition and co-producing a pamphlet of Eliot-influenced poems riskily entitled: Babel). After working in an architect's office in Sheffield, he realised William Carlos Williams meant more to him than Le Corbusier. Thereafter, he combined writing with doctoring buildings for the Peak...See more
John Sewell was born in South Yorkshire and educated in Scotland. Unable to choose between studying Art or English, he chose Architecture instead, (winning in his first year the Strathclyde University Poetry Competition and co-producing a pamphlet of Eliot-influenced poems riskily entitled: Babel). After working in an architect's office in Sheffield, he realised William Carlos Williams meant more to him than Le Corbusier. Thereafter, he combined writing with doctoring buildings for the Peak District National Park... He has two previous collections: The Imbolc Bride (Littlewood Arc) 1992 and Bursting The Clouds (Cape) 1998, and was co-author (with three others) of The Blue Bang Theory (Redbeck) 1997 - a collection of contemporary nature poetry. His poems have appeared in various anthologies, including Cambridge Encyclopaedia of the English Language; Oxford Poetry Books for Juniors; and Poetry Book Society Anthologies. They have also appeared in The Guardian and Observer, as well as magazines such as Poetry Review; Ambit, Rialto and Poetry Ireland Review, and broadcast on radio. He was featured in Poetry Review's New British Poets II. Prizes include being a finalist in the Arvon International Poetry Competition, winner of the Sheffield Thursday Poetry Competition and three times winner of the York Open Poetry Competition. He has been awarded a Writers Bursary, and Fellowships at Hawthornden Castle, Scotland; Chateau de Lavigny, Switzerland; and the Wurlitzer Foundation, Taos, New Mexico. He was commissioned by East Midlands Arts to write poems to accompany a photographic exhibition 'Across Country' - following the line of A52 from Lincolnshire to Derbyshire. He was active for many years with the Arvon Foundation, both on the Council of Management and the Management Committee for Lumb Bank. He currently lives in South Shropshire and is a member of the Border Poets writing group. See less
John Sewell's Featured Books