Michael Laskey was born in Lichfield in Staffordshire. He read English at St John’s College, Cambridge, and then worked for ten years as a teacher in Spain and England. He has lived in Suffolk since 1978, working as a freelance writing tutor with a wide range of children and adults, and as an arts administrator.
He was one of the founders of the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival in 1989 and directed it through its first decade. He also co-founded the poetry magazine Smiths Knoll in 1991 and continues to edit it.
As a poet he has published two pamphlets — Cloves of Garlic (1988) and In the Fruit Cage (1997) — and three full collections: Thinking of Happiness (Peterloo, 1991) which was a PBS recommendation; The Tightrope Wedding (Smith/Doorstop, 1999), also a PBS recommendation and shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize; and Permission to Breathe (Smith/Doorstop, 2004).
In the spring of 2005 he was awarded an Arts Council International Writing Fellowship at the Banff Centre in Canada.
Bibliography
Cloves of Garlic, Smith/Doorstop, Huddersfield, 1988
Thinking of Happiness, Peterloo Press, Cornwall, 1991
In the Fruit Cage, Smith/Doorstop, Huddersfield, 1997
The Tightrope Wedding, Smith/Doorstop, Huddersfield, 1999
Permission to Breathe, Smith/Doorstop, Huddersfield, 2004
Links
Michael Laskey’s homepage
The Poetry Trust
Including the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival.
On Editing Smiths Knoll
Interview with Michael for Poetry News. Page includes some audio poems.
Smiths Knoll Archive
At the Poetry Library’s magazine resource pages.
