We are delighted to invite Phil Kirby to this FRP Zoom event.
Phil worked in the family business as a carpenter and joiner before studying to become an English teacher. He began writing after reading Larkin’s ‘Mr Bleaney’ in a school anthology, and started placing poetry in journals and magazines in the early 90s. In 1994 he left teaching – briefly – and promptly won an East Midlands Arts writer’s bursary and a place on their prestigious ‘New Voices’ reading tour.
During this period, he ran Waldean Press, publishing pamphlets by the likes of Martin Stannard, Amanda Dalton, Pam Thompson and Michael Bartholomew-Biggs. Consequently, Waldean Press also received recognition and support from East Midlands Arts.
In addition, Phil has taught many adult writing classes through the WEA, conducted residencies in a secondary school and a hospice and judged competitions.
Shoestring Press published his pamphlet ‘A Bowl of Sky’ in 1997 and in 2009 Arrowhead Press published his first full collection, entitled ‘Watermarks’, which has now officially ‘sold out’. He has also published his first teen novella, entitled ‘Hidden Depths’ (Applefire Press), which is available on Amazon’s Kindle programme. His second poetry collection, ‘The Third History’, was published by Lapwing in 2018.
Since then, further poems have appeared in a long list of magazines and journals, including Acumen, London Grip, Orbis, Poetry Ireland, Poetry Birmingham, Stand and The High Window, and in the anthology ‘At The Edge Of All Storms’ (Dreich, 2023). Other poems have been placed in The Edward Thomas Fellowship Competition 2018, the Gloucestershire Writer’s Network Competition 2019 and two ‘commended’ poems appeared in The Ver Prize 2021 Competition Anthology.
His most recent publication is ‘Towards A Theory Of Being Human’, published by Hybrid/Dreich in December 2023.
In 2025, a selection of poems is due to appear in a Mariscat Press ‘3 in 1’ publication, alongside poets Candida Elton and Jane Frank.
Phil currently lives on the outskirts of Taunton and, when not playing bass in the Bristol-based rock-covers band Good God No!, is a member – and treasurer – of the Fire River Poets group.