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Judi Benson is an American who has lived in the UK since 1978 - long enough, she says, to know which side of the pond she belongs on. She is the Writer in Residence at the Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary, (Scotland), working with patients, carers and staff in Oncology and Palliative Care, who wish to articulate themselves through writing of any kind. She is also an artist, often does commissions, and her work has been shown, mainly in London. Her poems have appeared in a long list of magazines and anthologies, in the US as well as the UK and she is a regular reader at venues throughout the UK. She has written for and had her pieces read on both Radio 3 and Radio 4. Her poem, "Burying the Ancestors", was short-listed for The Forward Prize and appears in "The Forward Book of Poetry, 2004". Her poem, "Shopkeeper's Sign", was the Saturday poem in The Independent, 2002. Just as active internationally, she has taken part in International Festivals in Sarajevo; Italy — Tarcento, Pistoia, Salerno; in the US, Prague and Galway and her poetry has been translated into several languages including, Italian, Czech, Spanish, Bosnian and Serbo-Croat. Her next collection of poetry, The Thin Places, is proposed for 2006. She has two collections published by The Rockingham Press: Call It Blue in 2000 and In the Pockets of Strangers, 1993. Comments on her collection, Call it Blue, published by The Rockingham Press in 2000, include: "... language itself seems almost to be a companion, a fellow-traveller in poems of memory, love, journeys undertaken and stories told. There is a sense of life fully embraced and people, from Kosovo to London, from Europe to the USA, fully regarded. The relish with which the poems are made — the voice always clear in the ear — reveals a warm confiding humanity which will gain her many new readers." Carol Ann Duffy "These are talking poems, with the premise that there's somebody out there worth talking to; they're sociable, quick-witted and eloquent, poignant or pushy according to need. This book also has a hundred and fifty-nine references to items of food and drink. Feed this good poet." Roy Fisher She helped to compile and contributed her poem "Ghost Notes" to "You Again, Last Poems and Other Words, Ken Smith, 1938-2003" (her husband) — Bloodaxe Books, 2004. ISBN No. 1 85224 670 7. With Agneta Falk, she co-edited "The Long Pale Corridor - Contemporary Poems of Bereavement" — Bloodaxe Books, 1996. ISBN No. 1 852243171. With Ken Smith, she co-edited, "Klaonica - Poems for Bosnia" — Bloodaxe Books, 1993. ISBN No. 1 852242833. She edited and produced "What Poets Eat", an anthology of food-related poems and recipes with illustrations by Frances Wilson, — Foolscap, 1994. ISBN No. 0 9524284. From 1987-1996 she edited and produced Foolscap, a magazine of poetry and prose, with black and white illustrations.
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poem card:
and in
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... as editor: "One word sonnets and other words", Dumfries and Gallaway Health Board (proceeds to Macmillan Trust)
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