Biography - Andrew Motion
Professor Andrew Motion was born in London on 26 October 1952, and read English at University College, Oxford. He taught English at the University of Hull (1976-81) where he met the poet Philip Larkin. He was editor of Poetry Review (1981-83) and was Poetry Editor and Editorial Director at London publishers Chatto & Windus (1983-89). He succeeded Malcolm Bradbury as Professor of Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He has been Chairman of the Arts Council of England's Literature Panel since 1996. An acclaimed poet (and champion of poetry), critic, biographer and lecturer, Andrew Motion became Poet Laureate in 1999, succeeding Ted Hughes.
He was awarded the Newdigate Prize at Oxford for his poem 'Inland', included in his first collection of poems, The Pleasure Steamers, published in 1977. His poetry collections include Independence (1981); Secret Narratives (1983); Dangerous Play: Poems 1974-1984 (1984), which won the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize; Natural Causes (1987), which won the Dylan Thomas Award; The Price of Everything (1994); Salt Water (1997) and Selected Poems 1976-1997 (1998).
Andrew Motion is also the author of several acclaimed biographies including The Lamberts: George, Constant and Kit (1986), which won a Somerset Maugham Award; Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life (1993), which won the Whitbread Biography Award; a life of John Keats published in 1997; and Wainewright the Poisoner (2000), an account of the life of Thomas Wainewright, critic, forger, painter and suspected murderer.
Andrew Motion lives in London. His collection of poems Public Property was published in 2002. His new short novel, The Invention of Dr Cake, which combines elements of mystery and detective fiction, was published in 2003.
A memoir, In The Blood, was published in 2006, and a selection of his autobiographical and critical writings, Ways of Life: On Places, Painters and Poets in (2008). His latest collection of poems is The Cinder Path (2009).
Andrew Motion received a knighthood in 2009.
Bibliography
Goodnestone: A Sequence Workshop Press, 1972
Inland Cygnet Press, 1976
The Pleasure Steamers Sycamore Press, 1977
The Poetry of Edward Thomas Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980
Independence Salamander Press, 1981
Philip Larkin Methuen, 1982
The Penguin Book of Contemporary British Poetry (editor with Blake Morrison) Penguin, 1982
Secret Narratives Salamander Press, 1983
Dangerous Play: Poems 1974-1984 Salamander Press / Penguin, 1984
The Lamberts: George, Constant and Kit Chatto & Windus, 1986
Natural Causes Chatto & Windus, 1987
Two Poems Words, 1988
Love in a Life Faber and Faber, 1991
Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life Faber and Faber, 1993
New Writing 2 (editor with Malcolm Bradbury) Minerva in association with the British Council, 1994
New Writing 3 (editor with Candace Rodd) Minerva in association with the British Council, 1994
Selected Poems by Thomas Hardy (editor) Dent, 1994
The Price of Everything Faber and Faber, 1994
Keats: A Biography Faber and Faber, 1997
Penguin Modern Poets: Volume 11 (Michael Donaghy, Andrew Motion, Hugo Williams) Penguin, 1997
Salt Water Faber and Faber, 1997
Selected Poems 1976-1997 Faber and Faber, 1998
John Keats: Poems Selected by Andrew Motion Faber and Faber, 2000
Wainewright the Poisoner Faber and Faber, 2000
Here to Eternity: An Anthology of Poetry (editor) Faber and Faber, 2001
Public Property Faber and Faber, 2002
101 Poems Against War (Afterword) Faber and Faber, 2003
First World War Poems (editor) Faber and Faber, 2003
The Invention of Dr Cake Faber and Faber, 2003
In The Blood Faber and Faber, 2006
Ways of Life: On Places, Painters and Poets Faber and Faber, 2008
The Cinder Path Faber and Faber, 2009
