Writing songs, stories and poems
I was born in 1952, live in Liverpool, have a degree in English literature from Newcastle University, and have been writing songs, stories and poems since I was twelve.
My English teachers at junior school and secondary school always encouraged me, saying I had a gift for words.
I wrote my first song in 1964, when I was twelve, inspired by those I heard on the radio, and I began my first work of fantasy fiction in 1967, when I was fifteen, but left it unfinished.
Of poets and novelists, I like best the works of William Shakespeare, John Milton, William Wordsworth, John Keats, John Donne, T.S. Eliot, Ted Hughes, Dylan Thomas, Thomas Hardy, Franz Kafka, J.R.R. Tolkien, Arthur C. Clarke, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, Emily Bronte and Anahit Arustamyan, a poet from Armenia.
Classic novels, poetry, fantasy and science fiction are my favourite kinds of literature.
I like some of the folk ballads of England, Scotland and Ireland, Medieval poems, like Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Anglo-Saxon works, like Beowulf, The Wanderer and The Seafarer.
My interest in mythology has led me to read The Elder Edda, The Odyssey, The Iliad, The Kalevala, Gilgamesh and other Sumerian tales. My first book, Angel War, was published in April, 2013.
A work of fantasy fiction, rooted in The Bible, it was chosen as one of the twelve finalists for the Wishing Shelf Independent Book Awards for 2013, I am pleased to say.
My second book, Klubbe the Turkle and the Golden Star Coracle was published in March, 2015, and my third book, Still the Dawn: Poems and Ballads, was published in October, 2015. Both books were published by PublishNation.
Still the Dawn. A book of poems and ballads.
Poems written to preserve memories, explore moods, emotions, art, myths, real events and dreams, together with some attempts at light
verse, even nonsense.
Ballads that tell tales, reflect on the seasons, time and its passing.
The poet enters the mead hall, un-lids his word hoard, recites. He shares his gift.Those who attend to his works, he hopes to entertain.
Click here for more details of Still the Dawn.
I have had poems published in my local newspaper, the Liverpool Echo, The Dawntreader, a quarterly poetry magazine, and I have had a poem published in Mallorn, the Journal of the Tolkien Society, and one in Greek Fire, an anthology of poems, inspired by Greek mythology, published by Lost Tower Publications.
I enjoy posting my poems in poetry groups on Face Book, such as Uncaged Emotions, the Poetry group on Goodreads and on my WordPress blog: http://astro7747.wordpress.com
You can email Philip at: