On Poetry

Britain's major poets. He has been awarded the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Somerset Maugham Prize, and the E.M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as being shortlisted three times for both the T.S. Eliot and Forward Prizes. Three of his books were New York Times Notable Books of the Year. His One Thousand Nights and Counting: Selected Poems was published last year. Many of his plays have been staged in London and New York. They include The Lifeblood, which was British Theatre Guide's 'Best Play on the Fringe' at Edinburgh in 2004, Broken Journey and The Only Girl in the World (both Time Out Critics' Choices). Oberon Books publishes his Plays One (The Lifeblood, The Only Girl in the World and Wolfpit), Plays Two (Broken Journey, Best Man Speech and The Last Valentine), The Forever Waltz, Liberty, After Troy, Merlin and the Woods of Time, Masters Are You Mad? and his libretti The Lion's Face and Seven Angels.

"It really is a tremendously good book, and should be read by anyone who writes poetry and anyone who's interested in how and why poetry is written - this is the best book about poetry I've ever read' Adam Newey, Guardian 'Glyn Maxwell's 'On Poetry', on the execution and philosophy of the art, is probably going to be a modern classic' The Spectator 'A cogent, engaging, elegantly structured, and, at times, inspiring account and defence of the poet's art and calling.' Times Literary Review 'There are a handful of books about writing that I count among my indispensible texts: by Guy Davenport, Randall Jarrell, Durs Grunbein, Keats, Pound, Brodsky, Virginia Woolf, Fanny Burney, Eliot. I knew on about page two that this book was one of them' Katy Evans-Bush, Poetry Review 'Emergent or fledged, formalist or free, you should buy this book to encounterits beautifully put argument. I've given away two copies already, but am holding tight to my third.' Poetry London 'There are certain books which transcend their status as collections of words on paper (or quantum splodges in e-space) and, like kaleidoscopes, benignly shatter and transform their reader's perspectives. With these books, one is sent on extraordinary journeys of thought, perception and experience, and one's soul is tinged with enduring magic. This is very much the case for me with one of last year's surprise literary best-sellers, On Poetry by Glyn Maxwell' David Birkett 'It is funny, original, and doesn't presuppose expertise on the part of the reader. It is the best book on reading and writing poetry for a general audience that I have ever read.' Australian Book Review"