Robert Minhinnick

Robert Minhinnick (born 12 August 1952) is a Welsh poet, essayist, novelist and translator. He has won two Forward Prizes for Best Individual Poem and has received the Wales Book of the Year award a record three times (in 1993, 2006 and 2018).

Robert Minhinnick
Minhinnick in 2010
Minhinnick in 2010
Born (1952-08-12) 12 August 1952
Neath, Wales
Occupation
  • Poet
  • essayist
  • novelist
  • translator
NationalityWelsh
Alma mater
Period1998–
Notable works
Notable awards

Biography

Minhinnick was born in Neath, and now lives in Porthcawl. He studied at University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and University of Wales, Cardiff. An environmental campaigner, he co-founded the charities Friends of the Earth (Cymru) and Sustainable Wales. His work deals with both Welsh and international themes.[1]

He has published seven poetry collections and several volumes of essays. He edited the magazine, Poetry Wales from 1997 until 2008. He has also translated poems from contemporary Welsh poets for an anthology, The Adulterer's Tongue. His first novel, Sea Holly, was published in autumn 2007.[2]

Awards

Minhinnick won the Forward Prize for Best Individual Poem in 1999 for 'Twenty-five Laments for Iraq', and again in 2003 for 'The Fox in the National Museum of Wales'.[3] His poem ‘The Castaway’ was also shortlisted in 2004. He has also won an Eric Gregory Award (1980) and a Cholmondeley Award (1998), both awarded by the Society of Authors to British poets.[4][5]

Minhinnick has won the English-language Wales Book of the Year award a record three times: in 1993 for his essay collection Watching the fire-eater, in 2006 for his essay collection To Babel and Back and in 2018 for his poetry collection Diary of the Last Man. His win with Diary of the Last Man in 2018 also meant that Minhinnick had received the award in each of the three decades of its existence.[6]

Works

Poetry
  • The Yellow Palm (1998)
  • A Thread in the Maze (1978) C. Davies
  • Native Ground Triskele, 1979, ISBN 9780904652048
  • Life Sentences Poetry Wales Press, 1983, ISBN 9780907476177
  • The Dinosaur Park Poetry Wales, 1985, ISBN 9780907476481
  • The Looters Seren, 1989, ISBN 9781854110190
  • Hey Fatman Seren, 1994, ISBN 9781854111104
  • Selected Poems Carcanet, 1999, ISBN 9781857543834
  • After the Hurricane Carcanet, 2002
  • King Driftwood Carcanet Press, 2008, ISBN 9781857549652
  • After the Stealth Bomber
  • New Selected Poems, Carcanet, 2012, ISBN 9781847771339
  • Diary of the Last Man, Carcanet, 2017

Novels
  • Sea Holly Seren, 2007, ISBN 9781854114358
  • The Keys of Babylon (2011) Seren Press
  • Limestone Man Seren Books, 2015, ISBN 9781781722497

Essays
  • Watching the fire-eater Seren Books, 1992, ISBN 9781854110756
  • The Green Agenda: Essays on The Environment of Wales (ed.) (1994) Seren Press
  • Badlands (Seren, 1996, ISBN 9781854111579
  • To Babel and Back (2005)

Translation
  • The Adulterer's Tongue: Six Welsh Poets: A Facing-Text Anthology (ed., transl.) (2003)

References
  1. "Robert Minhinnick". British Council Literature. British Council.
  2. Seren: Sea Holly, Robert Minhinnick (accessed 18 August 2007)
  3. Forward Poetry Prize winners Archived 30 July 2012 at archive.today (accessed 18 August 2007)
  4. Society of Authors: Eric Gregory Trust Fund Awards (winners) (accessed 18 August 2007)
  5. Society of Authors: Cholmondeley Awards for Poets (past winners) Archived 10 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine (accessed 18 August 2007)
  6. "'Political' poet wins top book award". BBC News. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2018.
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