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Michael Curtis grew up in Liverpool and now lives in Kent. He has worked in cultural services and literature development and given readings and writing workshops across the UK and elsewhere in Europe. He was Writer in Residence for the Arts Council, England Great Expectations conference, Canterbury, the Metropole Arts Centre, Folkestone, the Maison de Poesie, Nord/Pas de Calais, France, and the Writers and Translators House, Ventspils, Latvia. He participated in poetry pRO and poetry tREnD and his work has been studied and translated at the University of Liege and broadcast in England, France, Ireland, Romania and Latvia. He has also assisted in translation from French, Finnish and Latvian, managed international writing exchanges and tours, such as Words Unbound, and co-edited anthologies for adults and children. Widely published in magazines and anthologies, his latest English collection, In The Affirmative, appeared in 2008 (Redbeck Press) and Walking Water, an English/French sequence was published in 2009 (Editions des Vanneux, Picardy). Work in progress includes Horizon a collection set in the Isle of Man, and a series of poems for children, The Haphazard Lizard and Other Affected Animals. I love the tone of elegiac acceptance and admire the work very much. The title poem is quite stunning, remarkable by any standards. Bernard O’Donoghue Someone engaged with something real rather than just concerned to set up clever comments. Jim Burns An impressive collection of poems, skillfully and unobtrusively well-crafted. His rhythms are subtle and flexible. He’s not afraid of the big subjects either. The possibility, the fact, of death and hope transcend ordinary life. Joanna Boulter (Other Poetry) Rich with images of travel and people and the universal concerns that bond us all together as human beings. Subtlety, a keen eye and unobtrusive reflection illuminate and offer us a panoramic picture of people, time and landscape caught in the grip of existence. Maggie Harris (Connections) Beguiling, relaxed and assured, Michael Curtis is confident enough not to over-egg the pudding in terms of imagery or to become bogged down in ‘devices’ and the result is a set of poems exploring geographical, emotional and cultural journeys in a variety of voices – including his own. We encounter a series of condensed observations and fictions, with a wide emotional repertoire and a sense that this collection has been honed with an admirable lack of sentiment and self-indulgence. Catherine Smith (The Frogmore Papers) Publications: Making Tracks [Platform Poets, 1984] The Shape of Happiness [Aegis Press, 1994] In Deepest England [Redbeck Press, 1997] Serotonin Days [Redbeck Press, 2001] Red Meat Dreams [Redbeck Press, 2003] Presences with Barabara & Russi Dordi [Picture-Poems, 2005] Long Haul [Redbeck Press, 2005] Taking Shape – Selected Poems 1984-2005 [La Maison de la Poesie, Nord/Pas de Calais, 2006] Weeks [Urban Fox Press, 2007] In the Affirmative [Redbeck Press, 2008] Walking Water [Editions de Vanneaux, 2009] The Scarpfoot Zone: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry from Kent Editor with John Rice and David Shields [Aegis Press, 1996].
For children: The Black Hound [The Manx Experience, 2006]
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