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Christopher John Reid

クリストファー・ジョン・リード

Christopher John Reid

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1949-05-13 （Hong Kong (British Hong Kong)）
Nationality
United Kingdom
Languages
English
Residence History
Hong Kong (birth) → United Kingdom (primary residence) → Hull (period working at University of Hull)

Career

Occupations
poet, essayist, cartoonist, editor, university professor
Active Years
1979-
Affiliations
Faber and Faber (editorial work), University of Hull (Professor of Creative Writing)
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature
Influenced By
Craig Raine, T. S. Eliot, Seamus Heaney
Nominations
Whitbread Awards nomination (1996), Whitbread Awards nomination (1997)

Education

Tonbridge School
Country: United Kingdom
Secondary education (exact years unknown)
Exeter College, Oxford
Country: United Kingdom
Details of course and graduation year unknown (attended University of Oxford)

Awards

Somerset Maugham Award
1980
Work: Arcadia
Result: Winner
Hawthornden Prize
1980
Work: Arcadia
Result: Winner
Costa Book Award (Book of the Year)
2009
Work: A Scattering
Category: Poetry / Book of the Year
Organization: Costa Book Awards
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Arcadia

1979 poetry

Early collection of poems employing distinctive metaphors and sound; one of his works that drew critical attention.

imagistic transformationdefamiliarization of the everydaywordplay

Pea Soup

1982 poetry

A collection rich in experimental metaphors and sonic qualities, exploring intersections of the ordinary and the uncanny.

everyday lifeabsurdityphonetics

A Scattering

2009 elegy / poetry

A collection written as a tribute to his late wife Lucinda Gane; it contemplates loss, memory and forms of love with restraint.

lossmemorymourning

The Song of Lunch

2009 poem / narrative

A long poem depicting urban scenes and the delicate relationship between a man and a woman. It was adapted for television.

urban lifeinterpersonal relationshipspassage of time
Adaptations
  • [television film] The Song of Lunch (TV) (2010)

The Late Sun

2020 poetry

A recent collection marking a mature phase of his poetry; contains poems on time, aging and memory.

timeagingrecollection

Bibliography

  • Arcadia (1979)
  • Pea Soup (1982)
  • Katerina Brac (1985)
  • In The Echoey Tunnel (1991)
  • Universes (1994)
  • Expanded Universes (1996)
  • Two Dogs on a Pub Roof (1996)
  • Mermaids Explained (2001)
  • For and After (2003)
  • Mr Mouth (2005)
  • A Scattering (2009)
  • The Song of Lunch (2009)
  • A Box of Tricks for Anna Zyx (2009)
  • Selected Poems (2011)
  • Nonsense (2012)
  • Six Bad Poets (2013)
  • Anniversary (2015)
  • The Curiosities (2015)
  • The Late Sun (2020)

Adaptations

  • Television adaptation of 'The Song of Lunch'

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Use of Martian poetry techniques (defamiliarizing everyday objects with unusual metaphors)Strong attention to sound and the sonic quality of languageWitty, intellectually playful tone
Recurring Motifs
defamiliarized everyday objectsmemory and lossurban landscapes

Legacy

Christopher Reid is a highly regarded British poet known for distinctive metaphors and attention to sound. His A Scattering won the 2009 Costa Book of the Year, raising his public profile. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and has contributed as an editor and educator.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature

Trivia

  • Born in Hong Kong in 1949.
  • Worked as a poetry editor at Faber and Faber.
  • Won the 2009 Costa Book of the Year for A Scattering — the first poet to win the overall prize since Seamus Heaney in 1999.
  • Educated at Tonbridge School and Exeter College, Oxford.