James kirkup journalist biography of barack

James Kirkup, who died on Sunday 10 May, aged 91, at his Andorran home, was an internationally celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, playwright and translator. James Falconer Kirkup was born on 23 April 1918 in South Shields, County Durham. He attended Westoe Secondary School before studying Modern Languages at Armstrong College (later incorporated in the University of Durham), where he co-produced the poetry magazines Dint and Fulcrum, which featured his earliest verse.

During the Second World War, Kirkup secured conscientious objector status, working as a farm labourer and for the Forestry Commission. The first volume of his expressive poetry was The Cosmic Shape (1946), co-authored with Ross Nichols. Based for some time in London, Kirkup became known for his wit, flamboyance, outspokenness, sociability and bibulousness. He befriended literary types such as Jon Silkin, John Heath Stubbs, David Wright, Roy Campbell, Muriel Spark and Stephen Spender.

Kirkup was teaching modern languages at The Downs School in Gloucestershire, when his first solo collection, The Drowned Sailor (1947), appeared. At Minchenden Grammar School, he was dismissed for failing to keep discipline. Meanwhile, he struck up a friendship with the editor of The Listener, J. R. Ackerley, who began commissioning book reviews from him, as well as publishing examples of Kirkup's increasingly risqué verse. One poem, "The Convenience", addressed mens' recreational pursuits in a urinal. Ackerley forced through its publication despite his typists' refusal to co-operate.

In 1950, Kirkup's growing reputation precipitated his appointment as the first Gregory Poetry Fellow at Leeds University. He later interpreted his responsibilities thus: "to be myself and do as I pleased with absolute artistic and bohemian freedom." He rented a flat in the red light district, to which he invited favoured verse-w

James Kirkup (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009)

"A haiku a day / keeps the doctor away"

James Kirkup was a prolific English poet, novelist, playwright, translator and travel writer, having become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1962. After first visiting Japan in 1959, he was to be largely based there for the next 30 years of his life, holding various positions at Japanese Universities and producing many publications of both his own poetry as well as translations of Japanese works. His achievements in writing haiku, tanka and senryu were acknowledged by an invitation to the Imperial New Year Poetry Reading in 1997.

James Falconer Kirkup was born in South Shields, County Durham on 23 April 1918. He studied Modern Languages at Armstrong College (later part of the University of Durham), where he was involved in the production of the poetry magazines Dint and Fulcrum. Some of Kirkup's early surrealist poems appeared in these publications, and in Platitude, a literary magazine based at Oriel College, Oxford. During the 1940s, Kirkup became involved in the poetry readings organised by the Progressive League in London.

After writing simple verses and rhymes from the age of six and the publication of his first poetry book, 'The Drowned Sailor' in 1947, Kirkup's published works encompassed several dozen collections of poetry, six volumes of autobiography, over a hundred monographs of original work and translations and thousands of shorter pieces in journals and periodicals. His skilled writing of haiku and tanka is acknowledged internationally. From 1950 to 1952 he was the first Gregory Poetry Fellow at Leeds University, making him the first resident university poet in the United Kingdom. After his Gregory Fellowship, Kirkup went on to take up various academic posts, mainly abroad. From 1953-1956 he was visiting poet and Head of the Department of English at the Bath Academy of Art (run by Clifford and Rosemary Ell

English poet, translator and travel writer (1918–2009)

James Harold KirkupFRSL (23 April 1918 – 10 May 2009) was an English poet, translator and travel writer. He wrote more than 45 books, including autobiographies, novels and plays. He wrote under many pen-names including James Falconer, Aditya Jha, Jun Honda, Andrew James, Taeko Kawai, Felix Liston, Edward Raeburn, and Ivy B. Summerforest. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.

Early life

James Kirkup was brought up in South Shields, England, and was educated at Westoe Secondary School, and then at King's College, Durham University. During the Second World War, he was a conscientious objector, and worked for the Forestry Commission, on the land in the Yorkshire Dales and at the Lansbury Gate Farm, Clavering, Essex. He taught at The Downs School in Colwall, Malvern, where W. H. Auden had earlier been a master. Kirkup wrote his first book of poetry there; this was The Drowned Sailor, which was published in 1947. From 1950 to 1952, he was the first Gregory Poetry Fellow at Leeds University, making him the first resident university poet in the United Kingdom.

He moved south with his partner to Gloucestershire in 1952, and became a visiting poet at Bath Academy of Art for the next three years. Moving on from Bath, Kirkup taught in a London grammar school before leaving England in 1956 to live and work in continental Europe, the Americ