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Don Barnard was born in 1940 in Evesham, and grew up with the affection for the Avon and the Cotswolds that colours much of his more serious poetry. He took an honours degree in Arabic and Farsi before joining the nascent computer industry in 1963 and becoming a Fellow of the British Computer Society. He began to write in the early 1990’s with performance verse in London pubs and clubs on open mike nights. He won half a dozen poetry slams and established a cabaret poetry group of four, Late Shift. The group has toured arts centres, festivals and theatres for four years and in 2003 had a sell-out show at the Edinburgh Fringe. He gained an MA in writing poetry at Sheffield Hallam University in 2004 and in 2004/5 was Birmingham’s ninth Poet Laureate. He teaches the writing of poetry for Warwick University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning. His publications include a collection of performance verse, Growing Old Disgracefully (Semicolon Press 2000, second edition 2005 ISBN 0 95335 255 2), and a pamphlet of seven poems for National Holocaust Memorial Day, Menorah (Semicolon Press 2004, ISBN 0 95355 254 4).
His poems have appeared in many magazines and websites and he
is anthologised in:
Ten Hallam Poets (Mews Press 2005, ISBN 1 84387 123 8), Perhaps (Cinnamon Press 2005, ISBN 0 9549433 2 5), Broadside X (Cannon Poets 2004 ISBN 0 95389 000 7). States of Matter (Blue Nose Press 2004, ISBN 0 9544 180 2 6), Obsessed With Pipework 6 and 7 (Flarestack 1999 ISSN 1367 9147), Listen (Semicolon Press 1999 ISBN 0 95335 251 X). His work has been broadcast on Radio 4 and Radio WM and he has recorded for BBC Midlands Today. He has written to commission on many occasions, including a verse play for children for the British Egg Information Service (the ‘Little Lion’ people), a children’s poetry trail for Birmingham Botanical Gardens and poems for the Eden Project, health information sites and several charities. He has also written for several weddings, a couple of funerals, but so far, no bar mitzvahs. He lives in Leamington Spa.
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and in
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... pamphlet - anthologies - "Perhaps", "Broadside
X", "Obsessed with Pipework 6 & 7", Flarestack
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