Michael Laskey
Encyclopedia
Life
Born in LichfieldLichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. Laskey was educated at Gresham's School
Gresham's School
Gresham’s School is an independent coeducational boarding school in Holt in North Norfolk, England, a member of the HMC.The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a free grammar school for forty boys, following King Henry VIII's dissolution of the Augustinian priory at Beeston Regis...
and St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
, where he read English. After Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Laskey worked for ten years as a teacher in secondary schools and further education in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and England. Poetry International Profile
Laskey has published four poetry collections, including New & Selected Poems (2008), and three pamphlets.
In 1989, Laskey founded the international Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh
Aldeburgh is a coastal town in Suffolk, East Anglia, England. Located on the River Alde, the town is notable for its Blue Flag shingle beach and fisherman huts where freshly caught fish are sold daily, and the Aldeburgh Yacht Club...
Poetry Festival and served as its director for ten years. He subsequently became chairman of The Poetry Trust, 2003-8 (the organisation which runs the Festival) 2008. In 1991, with Roy Blackman he founded the poetry magazine Smiths Knoll, and since 2002 has edited it (with Joanna Cutts). In 2005 he was awarded an Arts Council International Writing Fellowship at the Banff Centre
Banff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Laskey now works as a freelance writer, running workshops and teaching creative writing for many organisations including the University of East Anglia
University of East Anglia
The University of East Anglia is a public research university based in Norwich, United Kingdom. It was established in 1963, and is a founder-member of the 1994 Group of research-intensive universities.-History:...
, the Arvon Foundation, the Open College of the Arts
Open College of the Arts
The Open College of the Arts is a distance learning independent arts college, with a Head Office in Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England...
, and in schools.
Laskey is married to a general practitioner, and they have three sons. Since 1978, they have lived in Suffolk
Suffolk
Suffolk is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in East Anglia, England. It has borders with Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south. The North Sea lies to the east...
.
Publications
- Cloves of Garlic (1988) (which won the Poetry Business Pamphlet Competition)
- Thinking of Happiness (Peterloo, 1991) (Poetry Book Society Recommendation)
- The Tightrope Wedding (Smith/Doorstop, 1999) (Poetry Book Society Recommendation and shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize)
- In the Fruit Cage (1997)
- Permission to Breathe (Smith/Doorstop, 2004)
- Living by the Sea (Smith/Doorstop, 2007)
- The Man Alone: New & Selected Poems (Smith/Doorstop, 2008)
As Editor
- The Aldeburgh Poetry Festival Anthology 1989-1998 (ed.) (Aldeburgh Poetry Trust, 1999)
- The Difference by Anthony Wilson (Aldeburgh Poetry Trust, 1999)
- The Watermen by Roy Blackman (Smiths Knoll, 2003)
- A Small Sun by Mourid Barghouti (Aldeburgh Poetry Trust, 2003)
- Irresistible to Women by Dean Parkin (Garlic Press, 2003)
- Football on Waste Ground by Richard Kemp (Smiths Knoll, 2006)
- The Devil's Cut by Miranda Burton (Smiths Knoll, 2007)
- Hooks Working Loose by Margaret Easton (Garlic Press, 2007)
- Just Our Luck by Dean Parkin (Garlic Press, 2008)