Biogs are not just needed for books, but also for some readings,
contributions to magazines, anthologies, conferences etc. I find myself
changing mine every single time I'm asked for one. It does offer the,
probably illusory, hope of being in control of your own image. Hence,
perhaps, the rule of thumb that the more obscure the writer the longer the
biographical note. For my first collection, I left out my age to make myself
seem an exciting young poet. (I was 39.) The result was a patronizing review
from a writer at least ten years younger than me telling me that it was
typical young man's poetry but I'd grow out of it.
The great mistake, I think, is to mention your cats.
Best wishes
Matthew Francis
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01443 482856
-----Original Message-----
From: Roddy Lumsden [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 19 April 2000 14:14
To: Poetryetc
Subject: biog notes
As a bit of paratextual meandering, I want to suggest a new thread on
biographical notes. I was intrigued by David Kennedy's suggestion in the
new Poetry Review, that these are 'attractive fictions'. I notice too that
it is increasingly de rigueur among critics to review the biog note
alongside the poems. What I wonder is the happy medium between the two
pomposities, ramblingly verbose and self-importantly brief eg:
Jane Doe is a Professor of Post-colonial Phonetics. Her latest collection
is Diffracting Obtusions (Weinstein & Schmaltz)
or
Jane Doe was born in Chorlton cum Hardy to an Iranian father and Icelandic
mother. She was educated at Roald Dahl Infants, St Bob's School for Girls,
Jesus College, Ipswich and Las Vegas University where she completed a PhD on
the duck as death motif in the fiction of Chekov. Her first collection,
Rumbling Past the Bakery, was awarded the prestigious Featherstonehaugh
Prize. She has since published sixteen other collections including
(........) plus a libretto about Betty Grable's relationship with Mickey
Rooney. She is currently Writing Fellow for the Razzle Dazzle chain of
accessory stores. She is married to John, the noted anthropologist and they
have two strapping sons, Duchamp and Diaghilev. She is a devotee of Sufism
and enjoys brass rubbing, anthrax and crazy golf. She divides her time
between Ashby de la Zouch and La Paz.
Does anyone have any interesting biog notes to offer - their own or others'?
Any regrets? Any choice examples of how not to do it or any general thoghts
(sic) on the matter?
Roddy
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