Gez Walsh

Last updated

Gez Walsh is a children's poet [1] and a former social worker. He has written various books of children's comedy poetry including; "The Spot on my Bum," "The Return of the Spot," "Someone's Nicked My Knickers," Parents, Zits and Hairy Bits, Norah's Nasty Knickers, Fido's Foul Surprise, Don't Wee in the Bath, Terry and Mum, the Dog's Drunk Again! In addition, he is also the author of a trilogy of sword-and-sorcery fantasy novels: "The Man in the Skirt", "Banshee Moon" and "The Keeper".

In 1997 he began touring promoting his wacky and zany poetry. This has included many performances at schools, libraries and festivals in the UK and beyond, in Germany, Luxembourg and other venues. In addition, his best-selling book, The Spot on My Bum, was translated into Portuguese in 2012 under the title A Borbulha No Rabo, by Portuguese poet Helder Moulder Pereira.

In April 2018 he co-founded the charity Platform 1 in huddersfield. [2]

Poems

Gez Walsh burst into the poetry scene in 1997 armed with his first collection of children's verse, The Spot on My Bum: Horrible Poems for Horrible Children, which was rapidly to become a cult classic. Written in response to his dyslexic son's need for stimulating, approachable reading material, Gez decided to use humour as his tool to encourage interest. Quickly realising he'd hit on a successful method of providing reluctant readers with enthusiasm, Gez's world of laughter sprang into life. Soon it was not only his son enjoying hilarious performances of these poems, but a much wider audience of enthusiasts at schools, festivals, book signings and charity events.

Adding to his range of material for an ever-growing army of fans, Gez penned The Return of The Spot: More Horrible Poems for More Horrible Children (1997). Encouraged by this success Gez decided to try and further his appeal by branching out into fiction. In 1998 volume one of the Celtic Chronicles trilogy, The Man in The Skirt, was published and promptly reviewed on the popular children's television programme Fully Booked. A year later in 1999 his followers were presented with his next poetry offering, Someone's Nicked My Knickers: Poems to Make Your Toes Curl, then, in 2000, Parents, Zits and Hairy Bits: The World According to Wilf, a big hit with teenagers.

Towards the end of 2001, Fido's Foul Surprise And Other 'Ruff' Rhymes hit the bookshops, closely followed by the second volume of the comedy-horror Celtic Chronicles, Banshee Moon.

2002 saw Gez's sixth potty poetry collection, Norah's Nasty Knickers: Crazy Poems for Cool Kids come into being, receiving a warm reception from fans and generating media interest, while 2003 provided the much-awaited concluding volume to the Celtic Chronicles trilogy in the shape of The Keeper.

Alongside Gez's Potty Poets titles, the first book in the author's new educational series, Fax 4 U, was released, entitled Drugs - Booze, Glue, Cigs and Coffee, too!, part of a set of books aimed at broaching issues facing 21st century young people. The end of the year also heralded the entry of Don't Wee in the Bath, Terry!: Potty Poems with a Capital "P", the author's eleventh book.

2004 proved a busy time for Gez. Writing and performing full-time took his unique brand of humour to schools, libraries and festivals around the country with his reputation as a motivator of reluctant readers growing alongside his popularity. Bringing Gez's published work to the dozen mark was the author's most recent poetry collection, Mum, the Dog's Drunk Again! Horribly Potty Poems for Horribly Horrid Kids. This brought Gez to the attention of the nation once more as BBC's Look North televised his comic poetry performance during a World Book Day celebration in a Yorkshire school, while Radio Five Live also featured Gez's antics.

Since the publication of "Mum, The Dog's Drunk Again", Gez Walsh has concentrated his writing in other directions. While he continued keeping faith with the Potty Poets brand by working on "Great Aunt Fanny's Moustache" which is still forthcoming, Walsh has really been concentrating on his new series of fiction for young adults, Twisted Minds. Volume 1 of this series, The Meeting Room, was originally published initially as a digital book for download only; however, it is due for release in book form in late 2014. In the meantime, two other volumes, Changes and Diva Dave and Fat Sue, have appeared both in book form and as e-books. [3]

Walsh has also developed a stand-up act for adult audiences. He also regularly presents the Wednesday afternoon show on Phoenix FM Radio in Calderdale, West Yorkshire. In the summer of 2014 he was appointed as the official "poet laureate" of Calderdale. Also, at the same time, he was the poet in residence at the Orange Box, a community arts centre in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Li Bai</span> Chinese poet (701–762)

Li Bai, formerly pronounced Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (太白), was a Chinese poet acclaimed as one of the greatest and most important poets of the Tang dynasty and in Chinese history as a whole. He and his friend Du Fu (712–770) were two of the most prominent figures in the flourishing of Chinese poetry under the Tang dynasty, which is often called the "Golden Age of Chinese Poetry". The expression "Three Wonders" denotes Li Bai's poetry, Pei Min's swordplay, and Zhang Xu's calligraphy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ted Hughes</span> English poet and childrens writer (1930–1998)

Edward James Hughes was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He was appointed Poet Laureate in 1984 and held the office until his death. In 2008, The Times ranked Hughes fourth on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toilet humour</span> Type of off-colour humour dealing with defecation, urination and flatulence

Toilet humour, potty humour or scatological humour, is a type of off-colour humour dealing with defecation, urination and flatulence, and to a lesser extent vomiting and other bodily functions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taliesin</span> Sub-Roman Welsh poet

Taliesin was an early Brittonic poet of Sub-Roman Britain whose work has possibly survived in a Middle Welsh manuscript, the Book of Taliesin. Taliesin was a renowned bard who is believed to have sung at the courts of at least three kings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modernist poetry in English</span>

Modernist poetry in English started in the early years of the 20th century with the appearance of the Imagists. Like other modernists, Imagist poets wrote in reaction to the perceived excesses of Victorian poetry, and its emphasis on traditional formalism and ornate diction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irving Layton</span> Romanian-born Canadian poet

Irving Peter Layton, OC was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following but also made him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001), Layton fought Puritanism throughout his life:

Layton's work had provided the bolt of lightning that was needed to split open the thin skin of conservatism and complacency in the poetry scene of the preceding century, allowing modern poetry to expose previously unseen richness and depth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nizar Qabbani</span> Syrian diplomat, poet and publisher (1923–1998)

Nizar Tawfiq Qabbani was a Syrian diplomat, poet, writer and publisher. He is considered to be Syria's National Poet. His poetic style combines simplicity and elegance in exploring themes of love, eroticism, religion, and Arab empowerment against foreign imperialism and local dictators. Qabbani is one of the most revered contemporary poets in the Arab world. His famous relatives include Abu Khalil Qabbani, Sabah Qabbani, Rana Kabbani, Yasmine Seale.

<i>The Dharma Bums</i> 1958 novel by Jack Kerouac

The Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The basis for the novel's semi-fictional accounts are events occurring years after the events of On the Road. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on Kerouac, and Japhy Ryder, based on the poet and essayist Gary Snyder, who was instrumental in Kerouac's introduction to Buddhism in the mid-1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike Harding</span> British musician

Mike Harding is an English singer, songwriter, comedian, author, poet, broadcaster and multi-instrumentalist. Harding has also been a photographer, traveller, film maker and playwright.

Gerard Woodward is a British novelist, poet and short story writer, best known for his trilogy of novels concerning the troubled Jones family, the second of which, I'll Go to Bed at Noon, was shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. As of April 2024, he is a professor of creative writing at Bath Spa University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ian McMillan (poet)</span> English poet, journalist, playwright, broadcaster (born 1956)

Ian McMillan is an English poet, journalist, playwright, and broadcaster. He is known for his strong and distinctive Yorkshire accent and his incisive, friendly interview style on programmes such as BBC Radio 3's The Verb. He lives in Darfield, the village of his birth.

George Palmer Garrett was an American poet and novelist. He was the Poet Laureate of Virginia from 2002 to 2004. His novels include The Finished Man, Double Vision, and the Elizabethan Trilogy, composed of Death of the Fox, The Succession, and Entered from the Sun. He worked as a book reviewer and screenwriter, and taught at Cambridge University and, for many years, at the University of Virginia. He is the subject of critical books by R. H. W. Dillard, Casey Clabough, and Irving Malin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gabriel Rosenstock</span> Irish writer

Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish writer who works chiefly in the Irish language. A member of Aosdána, he is a poet, playwright, haikuist, tankaist, essayist, and author/translator of over 180 books, mostly in Irish. Born in Kilfinane, County Limerick, he currently resides in Dublin.

Robert Nye FRSL was an English poet and author. His bestselling novel Falstaff, published in 1976, was described by Michael Ratcliffe as "one of the most ambitious and seductive novels of the decade", and went on to win both The Hawthornden Prize and Guardian Fiction Prize. The novel was also included in Anthony Burgess's 99 Novels: The Best in English Since 1939 (1984).

Sean Taylor is a British author of children's books. He was born in 1965 and grew up in Surrey, England, he taught in Zimbabwe before studying literature at Cambridge. He currently divides his time between the United Kingdom and Brazil, where his wife is from.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuyutsu Sharma</span>

Yuyutsu Ram Dass Sharma is a Nepalese-Indian poet and journalist. He was born at Nakodar, Punjab and moved to Nepal at an early age. He writes in English and Nepali.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrej Rozman</span> Slovene poet, writer, actor and street theatre producer

Andrej Rozman is a Slovene poet, writer, actor, and street theatre producer. He writes poems and creates plays for children and also writes satirical poetry for adults.

Xhevahir Spahiu is an Albanian poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raymond Antrobus</span> British poet

Raymond Antrobus is a British poet, educator and writer, who has been performing poetry since 2007. In March 2019, he won the Ted Hughes Award for new work in poetry. In May 2019, Antrobus became the first poet to win the Rathbones Folio Prize for his collection The Perseverance, praised by chair of the judges as "an immensely moving book of poetry which uses his deaf experience, bereavement and Jamaican-British heritage to consider the ways we all communicate with each other." Antrobus was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2020.

<i>Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems</i> 2020 book by Simon Armitage

Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems is a 2020 collection of poems by the English poet Simon Armitage. All 50 of the poems, written throughout his career, relate to places in his home village of Marsden, West Yorkshire. The book contains maps of the village, showing where each poem is situated. Armitage is a professor of poetry, and became Poet Laureate in 2019. He states that he found that he had been using Marsden to chart the effects of problems with the British economy and the sense of marginalisation that he felt.

References

  1. "Poetry Book". BBC Bradford and West Yorkshire. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  2. "Platform 1". Platform 1.
  3. "New venture for Huddersfield writer Gez Walsh". Yorkshire Examiner. 23 December 2013.