John Hartley Williams

John Hartley Williams grew up in London. He has worked as a teacher in France, Jugoslavija and Francophone Africa. Since 1976 he has been a lecturer at the Free University of Berlin, where he teaches Applied Linguistics as well as Creative Writing.

He has published nine collections of poetry, two of which have been shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize. The latest collection shortlisted for this award was Blues (October 2004), published by Jonathan Cape (UK). He has published translations from German, French, Serbo-Croatian and also, together with Hilde Ottschofski, versions of the Rumanian poet Marin Sorescu: Censored Poems (2001, Bloodaxe). He has published reviews, essays etc widely in UK poetry magazines and literary journals. So far, to his regret, he has not had a book out in the Unites States.

He has also written a prose memoir, Ignoble Sentiments (1995), published by Arc, and a mysterious prose work called Mystery in Spiderville, which was reissued in paperback by Vintage (2003). A reader-friendly guide to the writing of poetry called Teach Yourself Writing Poetry, co-written with the Irish poet Matthew Sweeney, was reissued in a revised edition by Hodder in 2004. A privately printed book of poems and photographs, North Sea Improvisation (2003), set in and around Cuxhaven on the North Sea German coast, is available from the poet. See website for more details: www.johnhartleywilliams.de

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