Sebastian Barker, FRSL

Career: furniture restorer, carpenter and fireman 1971-76, cataloguer of modern first edns Sotheby's 1976-77, self-employed writer 1977-79, writer in residence South Hill Park Arts Centre Bracknell Berks 1980-83, writer in residence Stamford Arts Centre Lincs 1984-85, self-employed writer 1985-, chm The Poetry Soc 1988-92, fndr dir English Coll Fndn Prague 1991-; ed The London Magazine 2002-08; participant at numerous festivals, conferences and univ seminars; dir and co-dir of literary festivals incl: Bracknell 1980-82, Epsom Surrey 1984, first Royal Berkshire Poetry Festival 1985; executor: Literature Panel Brighton Festival 1989-91, English PEN 1990-92, Friedrich Nietzsche Soc of GB 1991-94; judge: Dylan Thomas Award for Poetry (with Nigel Jenkins) 1989, Shell Young Poet of the Year (with Fleur Adcock, qv) 1989, BP Speak-a-Poem Competition (with Betty Mulcahy) 1990, Bournemouth Int Poetry Competition 1991, London Writing Competition (with Peter Reading) 1992, VS Pritchett Meml Prize RSL 2003-07, Strokestown Int Poetry Competition 2010; Royal Literary Fund fell Univ of Middx 2010-11; Hawthornden fell 1990; FRSL 1997; Awards Arts Cncl Award for Poetry 1976, Ingram Merrill Fndn Award 1988, Soc of Authors Award 1990, Royal Literary Fund Award 1993

Books and Publications: poetry incl: Poems (1974), The Dragon and the Lion (1976), On the Rocks (1977), Epistles (1980), A Fire in the Rain (1982), A Nuclear Epiphany (1984), Boom (1985), O Mother Heal Your Son (1986), Lines for My Newborn Son (1987), The Dream of Intelligence (1992, Book of the Year The Independent 1992, Book of the Year The Spectator 1992), Guarding the Border: Selected Poems (1992), The Hand in the Well (1996), Damnatio Memoriae: Erased from Memory (2004), The Matter of Europe (2005), The Erotics of God (2005, Book of the Year The Tablet 2005), Sebastian Barker reading from his Poems (2006); Who is Eddie Linden (documentary novel, 1979, stage adaptation by William Tanner 1995), Rowan Williams' Theology of Art & Other Essays (2010), The Wheels of Ezekiel: A Theology of Poetry (2010); as ed: Aquarius, 10 (1978), Poetry London/Apple Magazine (1979), Poems by the Children and People of Bracknell (1980), A Zoo to Brood Upon (1981), Other People's Lives (1982), Pacing the Cage (1985), A Royal Audience (1985), Portraits of Poets (1986, Book of the Year The Observer 1986), Young Poets of a New Bulgaria (1990), Long Poem Group Newsletter (jtly, 12 issues, 1995-2002)