Kevin McCann
Updated: Thu, 26 Apr 2012 04:41 pm
Biography
“One of the best poets in the country...” - Jimmy McGovern. “Kevin provides that extra wow factor." Times Educational Supplement I have worked extensively with schools and youth groups throughout the whole of the country. I was Writer-in-Residence in H.M.P. Birmingham (for the Arts Council of England) and H.M.P. Wymott (for both the Poetry Society and the Gulbenkian Foundation), appeared as a character in a novel and had a poem included in “The Lakes” by Jimmy McGovern. I have run poetry workshops and given readings in schools, prisons, community centres, libraries, hospitals, universities, cafes and pubs and am able to run workshops for people of any age or ability. EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE : English and Drama teacher for sixteen years + Lecturer in Creative Writing (Liverpool University, Dept. Of Continuing Education for ten years. Have also worked as a writer in Schools for, amongst others, the Poetry Society, Sefton EAZ and Top of the Tree as well as assorted community arts projects, local libraries etc. Currently completing a project working with looked after children for Whitewood and Fleming. I have also devised on-line writing frames for Scholastic, written articles and designed worksheets for Literacy Time and The Literacy Club. PUBLISHING CREDITS: The Trouble with Wings (Toulouse Press, 1982); The Waiting Game (Poetry Minibooks, 1985); Mirror, Mirror (Other Publications, 1993); The Bear (Blue Cage Books, 1995); In with the Shrink (Driftwood Publications 2003) I Killed George Formby (Erbacce Press, 2008) Some of Us (Erbacce Press, 2011) I also write for children and have had work included in 30 anthologies, the most recent being : Love, Hate and my Best Mate (Wayland, 2004); The Works 5 (Macmillan, 2006); The Poetry Store (Hodder, 2006); Scary Poems to make you Shiver (OUP, 2006); The Works 6 (Macmillan, 2006); Poems About Water (Evans, 2007) The World at Our Feet (Macmillan, 2010) Puppy Poems (Macmillan 2011) I have also had poems, stories and writing strategies featured in Literacy Time and Child Education (Scholastic). As Editor : Beautify the Nation (Toulouse Press, 1992); Perfectly Acceptable (Liverpool Libraries,1992); The Isle is Full of Noises (Caliban Books, 2002); Script editor of From Dawn to Dusk by Kevin Paton – premiered at the Bluecoat Chambers, Liverpool, Oct 17, 1997. Commissioned by Macmillan to provide a detailed review of translations from the Armenian of poems by Razmik Davoyan BROADCASTING : Poems and short stories on Radio City, Radio Four, Radio Five, Radio Merseyside, Red Rose Radio, World Service, B.B.C TV; Nothing Rhymes with Poets (Liverpool Big Screen, 2005) VIDEO : The Lakes by Jimmy McGovern (B.B.C. Videos, 1998). RECORDING :The Contraries (Third Stone Records, 1996); Poetry Now (Sampler C.D. 1996) PERFORMANCE : Readings in both England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the United States. AWARDS : Joint winner of the Writing Together Teacher Writer Award, 2006. PROFESSIONAL BODIES : Full Member of the Writers Guild of Great Britain; Association of Freelance Writers; Artists and Licensing and Collection Society
Samples
She... Took photographs guard towers) Made notes (barbed wire) But finally (gallows site) Just stood (medical block) Fading Into row Upon row Of nissen huts And rising up In front of her This butterfly, A tongue of fire, Wings beating back The silence, Rhythmic whispers Urgent, A final prayer Rises up To be caught In a web In a gap In the wire. ************* We do it... A writer or, at least a poet, is always being asked by people who should know better : “Whom do you write for ?” - W.H. Auden We do it For that broken child, Eyes still brimming reflected pain, We do it For all the mad ones And for those who are caged and sane, We do it To unravel the nightmares And the laughter that lullabies pain, We do it For all the first times Words made our pulses beat, We do it For desperate drunkards Trawling for love through the streets, We do it For the flotsam Washed up on the shore, We do it For the clumsy And the over chatty bore, We do it To leave a hand print On the dark cave wall, We do it Because we’re high-wire dancers Always about to fall...
All poems are copyright of the originating author. Permission must be obtained before using or performing others' poems.
Blog entries by Kevin McCann
Diary of a Shape Shifter (09/12/2014)
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