The Writers of Wales Database

STOREY, EDWARD

Kite’s Drift, Discoed, Powys, LD8 2NW
Tel: 01547 560437

Poet, dramatist and non–fiction writer. Born in 1930 at Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire. Before becoming a full time writer in the late 1960s, Edward completed National Service and worked in adult education for the Peterborough City Education Authority. His first volume of poetry, North Bank Night, was published by Chatto & Windus in 1969. In one of his earlier works Portrait of the Fen Country (Robert Hale, 1971) Edward reflected upon his childhood understanding of the world as it was shaped by his fenland experience. In Fen Country Christmas (Robert Hale, 1995) he collected a number of stories, legends and fenland superstitions. He was a founder member of the John Clare Society and of the Eastern Arts Association Literature panel.

Edward moved to Wales in 1999 where he has established the Discoed Michaelmas Wakes Festival of the Arts. A former regular contributor to BBC 'Listening and Writing' programmes and 'Time for Verse', he was a founder member of Eastern Arts Association’s Literature Panel, promoting its 'Writers in Schools' policy. Edward has published nine collections of poetry and several volumes of prose; his poems have also been published in Acumen, The London Magazine, The Rialto and Spectator. He has given many readings throughout the country and worked as a tutor for Arvon Foundation courses. Edward is a Member of Academi.

Reviews:

"…A deeply meditative poet who sees in nature a mirror for the human condition and sensibility...these are beautifully crafted poems that exist because they have to..."
The Poetry Quarterly Review

"...effortless in its voice, langauge and poetic form, and in its relationship with the reader...never slight nor dependent on conventional sentiment but marked by grace or gravitas..."
Ambit

"...You won't find another poet who can do quite what Storey does..."
Envoi

"...As one's familiarity with the poems increases so does one's respect for their thoughtful seriousness of purpose and for the exactness of their language..."
Acumen

Selected Publications:
North Bank Night (Chatto & Windus, 1969)
Portrait of the Fen Country (Robert Hale, 1971)
A Man in Winter (Hogarth Press, 1972)
Four Seasons in Three Countries (Robert Hale, 1974)
The Solitary Landscape (Gollancz, 1975)
Call it a Summer Country (Robert Hale, 1978)
A Right to Song: The Life of John Clare (Methuen, 1982)
Spirit of the Fens: View of Fenland Life, Past and Present (Robert Hale, 1985)
Summer Journeys Through the Fens (Robert Hale, 1988)
Fen, Fire and Flood (Cambridgeshire Libraries Publications, 1989)
Solitary Landscape (Robert Hale, 1990)
Fen Boy First (Robert Hale, 1992)
The Winter Fens (Robert Hale, 1993)
Fen Country Christmas (Robert Hale, 1995)
In Fen Country Heaven (Robert Hale, 1996)
Letters from the Fens (Robert Hale, 1998)
New and Selected Poems (Rockingham Press, 2000)
A Change in the Climate (Rockingham, 2004)
Last Train to Ely (Rockingham, 2004)
Almost a Chime-Child (Raven Books, 2010)

Contributed to:
Fen and Ink: An Anthology of New Writing from East Cambridgeshire (editor) (ADeC, 1995)




 

Eligible Writers on Tour subjects offered:

1. Reading and discussing own work 
2. Master-classes in poetry and prose

AGE RANGE: 12-18 year olds and adults.
REQUIREMENTS: a quiet room