Colin Simms

Last updated

Colin Simms
Born1939
Occupation Biologist
Curator
Poet

Colin Simms (born 1939) is a British biologist, curator and poet. [1]

Contents

Career

Biologist and curator

Simms was appointed Keeper of Biology at the Yorkshire Museum in 1964. [2] He held this position until 1982. [3]

Poet

Simms has produced several collections, and more than forty pamphlets, of poetry, inspired by wildlife and the natural world. [4] These varied works were collected into a series of publications, organised by the subject, by Shearsman Books. The first publication was Otters and Martens in 2004, followed by The American Poems (2005), Gyrfalcon Poems (2007), Poems from Afghanistan (2013), and Hen Harrier Poems. [1]

In a 2015 Guardian review of Hen Harrier Poems, Simms' poetry of the last half-century was described as of "huge importance, thrilling for the rigour and commitment of its vision". [1] He won 3rd prize in the inaugural Laurel Prize for environmental poetry in 2020, for Hen Harrier. [5] [6] His work, in a discussion of great Yorkshire poets, has also been described as "not as well known as it should be". [7]

Select publications

Related Research Articles

"The British Poetry Revival" is the general name given to a loose poetry movement in Britain that took place in the 1960s and 1970s. The revival was a modernist-inspired reaction to the Movement's more conservative approach to British poetry. The poets included an older generation - Bob Cobbing, Paula Claire, Tom Raworth, Eric Mottram, Jeff Nuttall, Andrew Crozier, Lee Harwood, Allen Fisher, Iain Sinclair—and a younger generation: Paul Buck, Bill Griffiths, John Hall, John James, Gilbert Adair, Lawrence Upton, Peter Finch, Ulli Freer, Ken Edwards, Robert Gavin Hampson, Gavin Selerie, Frances Presley, Elaine Randell, Robert Sheppard, Adrian Clarke, Clive Fencott, Maggie O'Sullivan, Cris Cheek, Tony Lopez and Denise Riley.

Lee Harwood

Lee Harwood was a poet associated with the British Poetry Revival.

Barry MacSweeney was an English poet and journalist. His organizing work contributed to the British Poetry Revival.

Yang Lian (poet)

Yang Lian is a Swiss-Chinese poet associated with the Misty Poets and also with the Searching for Roots school. He was born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1955 and raised in Beijing, where he attended primary school.

Peter Robinson (poet) British poet (born 1953)

Peter Robinson is a British poet born in Salford, Lancashire.

Vahni Capildeo

Vahni Anthony Ezekiel Capildeo is a Trinidadian Scottish writer, and a member of the extended Capildeo family that has produced notable Trinidadian politicians and writers.

Laurence "Laurie" James Duggan is an Australian poet, editor, and translator.

M. T. C. Cronin is a contemporary Australian poet.

Peter Riley is a contemporary English poet, essayist, and editor. Riley is known as a Cambridge poet, part of the group loosely associated with J. H. Prynne which today is acknowledged as an important center of innovative poetry in the United Kingdom. Riley was an editor and major contributor to The English Intelligencer. He is the author of ten books of poetry, and many small-press booklets. He is also the current poetry editor of the Fortnightly Review and a recipient of the Cholmondeley Award in 2012 for "achievement and distinction in poetry".

Simon Perchik American poet (born 1923)

Simon Perchik is an American poet who has been described by Library Journal as, "the most widely published unknown poet in America." Perchik worked as an attorney before his retirement in 1980. Educated at New York University, he now resides in East Hampton, New York. Best known for his highly personal, non-narrative style of poetry, Perchik's work has appeared in over 30 books, websites including Verse Daily, Jacket and numerous print magazines, including The New Yorker, Poetry, Partisan Review, The Nation, North American Review, Weave Magazine, JuxtaProse Literary Magazine, and CLUTCH. His poetry collection, Hands Collected was longlisted for the 2000 National Book Award for Poetry.

Ken Edwards is a poet, editor, writer and musician who has lived in England since 1968. He is associated with The British Poetry Revival.

Richard Berengarten is a British poet, translator and editor. Having lived in Italy, Greece, the US and the former Yugoslavia, his perspectives as a poet combine English, French, Mediterranean, Jewish, Slavic, American and Oriental influences. His subjects deal with historical and political material, with inner worlds, relationships and everyday life. His work is marked by its multicultural frames of reference, depth of themes, and variety of form. In the 1970s, he founded and ran the international Cambridge Poetry Festival. He has been an important presence in contemporary poetry for the past 40 years, and his work has been translated into more than 90 languages.

Roger Francis Langley was an English poet and diarist. During his life, he was loosely affiliated with the Cambridge poetry scene.

Rory Waterman is a poet, critic, editor and academic resident in Nottingham, England.

Peter Boyle, is an Australian poet and translator.

Deborah Meadows American poet

Deborah Meadows is an American poet and playwright and essayist.

Susan Connolly is an Irish poet.

Claire Crowther is a British poet and author of four full-length poetry collections, Stretch of Closures, The Clockwork Gift, On Narrowness and Solar Cruise and five pamphlets, Knithoard, Bare George, Incense, Mollicle, and Glass Harmonica. Crowther is Deputy and Reviews Editor of Long Poem Magazine.

Poetry School is a national arts organisation, registered charity and adult education centre providing creative writing tuition, with teaching centres throughout England as well as online courses and downloadable activities. It was founded in 1997 by poets Mimi Khalvati, Jane Duran and Pascale Petit. Poetry School offers an accredited Master's degree in Writing Poetry, delivered in both London and Newcastle, in collaboration with Newcastle University. Online courses are delivered via CAMPUS, a social network dedicated to poetry.

Janet Sutherland

Janet Sutherland is a British poet. She has four full-length collections of poetry, published by Shearsman Books. She is a full time working poet and editor. She is a co-founder of the Needlewriters cooperative which organises quarterly poetry events in Lewes, East Sussex. Her poems are widely anthologised and are published in national and international magazines.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rob Macfarlane (8 August 2015). "Hen Harrier Poems by Colin Simms review – a remarkable tribute to an endangered bird". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 October 2019.
  2. Pyrah, B (1988). The history of the Yorkshire Museum and its Geological Collections. North Yorkshire County Council. p. 131.
  3. Pyrah, B (1988). The history of the Yorkshire Museum and its Geological Collections. North Yorkshire County Council. p. 142.
  4. England, Gerald (December 2007). "COLIN SIMMS: OTTERS AND MARTENS". NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW: An independent small press poetry review.
  5. "The Laurel Prize 2020 – Winners!". Simon Armitage. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  6. "2020 Winners". Laurel Prize for Poetry in Association with Poetry School. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  7. "Pete Morgan: Celebrating a true living legend of poetry". Yorkshire Post. 8 May 2009. Retrieved 1 October 2019.