Brian Bilston

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Brian Bilston
BornPaul Millicheap
(1970-06-14) 14 June 1970 (age 55)
Birmingham, England
OccupationPoet, writer
Alma mater Swansea University
Period2010s–present

Paul Millicheap (born 14 June 1970), who writes as Brian Bilston, is a British poet and author.

Contents

Biography

Born in Birmingham, England, he studied at the University of Wales, Swansea, before entering the publishing industry as a marketing manager, notably for John Wiley in Oxford. [1]

Using the pseudonym Brian Bilston, he began publishing short and pithy, often humorous, poems on Twitter, which were then spread widely on social media. He gained up to 400,000 followers, and has been described as "The Poet Laureate of Twitter". [2] [3] The poet Ian McMillan described Bilston as "a laureate for our fractured times", [4] and he has been compared to Don Marquis, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash. [5]

Bilston has published three collections of verse, You Took the Last Bus Home (2016); Alexa, What Is There to Know About Love? (2021); and Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022). He has also written a book of football poems, 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021). His first novel, Diary of a Somebody (2019), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for First Novel, and his poem "Refugees" has been published as an illustrated book for children. [5] In 2023, he published a book of "seasonally adjusted poems", And So This Is Christmas. [6]

He has been called "the Banksy of the poetry world"; [7] in publicity photographs promoting his speaking tours, he hides his face behind a book. [4]

In 2025, Bilston was shortlisted for the CLiPPA poetry award for his children's collection, Let Sleeping Cats Lie (Pan Macmillan, 2024) [8] In an interview for Just Imagine he said 'One thing I would say is that it's easier to take all the shackles off when you’re writing for children. I think there's less expectation that a poem needs to be a particular kind of thing. Basically, children are far more imaginative and accepting and carry so much more joy in them than a lot of grown-ups. '

He also recorded and released an album, Sounds Made By Humans, with indiepop band the Catenary Wires. [9]

Publications

References

  1. ↑ Paul Millicheap, LinkedIn. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  2. ↑ Gilmartin, Sarah (6 April 2016). "Brian Bilston: the Poet Laureate of Twitter". Irish Times . Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  3. ↑ Duerden, Nick (11 January 2021). "'Poet laureate of Twitter' Brian Bilston: 'I'm still pretty shy and mostly unconfident'". iNews. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 Freeman, Greg, "Alexa, what's the latest about Brian Bilston, poet laureate of Twitter?", Write Out Loud, 14 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2023
  5. 1 2 Cronley, Connie, "Light, Bright Verse", LIFE's Vintage Newsmagazine, August 2022, p. 32.
  6. ↑ "Christmas", BrianBilston.com. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  7. ↑ "Brian Bilston, the mystery man of poetry, answers our questions", Pan Macmillan, 26 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
  8. ↑ Nikki, Gamble (3 May 2025). "Brian Bilston: CLiPPA Shortlisted Poet". Just Imagine. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
  9. ↑ "Online poet Brian Bilston & indiepop pioneers The Catenary Wires pool their talents", Buzz, 11 May 2025. Retrieved 15 May 2025
  10. ↑ Quinn, Anthony (13 June 2019). "Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston review – a mischievous comic debut". The Guardian . Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  11. ↑ Thomas-Corr, Johanna (21 July 2019). "Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston review – a spoof too far". The Observer . Retrieved 17 December 2023.
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