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Andrew Motion

Born

in London, The United Kingdom

October 26, 1952

Genre

Poetry, Fiction

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Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.

Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.[9]
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be s Sir Andrew Motion, FRSL (born 26 October 1952) is an English poet, novelist and biographer, who presided as Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1999 to 2009.

Motion was appointed Poet Laureate on 1 May 1999, following the death of Ted Hughes, the previous incumbent. The Nobel Prize-winning Northern Irish poet and translator Seamus Heaney had ruled himself out for the post. Breaking with the tradition of the laureate retaining the post for life, Motion stipulated that he would stay for only ten years. The yearly stipend of £200 was increased to £5,000 and he received the customary butt of sack.[9]
He wanted to write "poems about things in the news, and commissions from people or organisations involved with ordinary life," rather than be seen a 'courtier'. So, he wrote "for the TUC about liberty, about homelessness for the Salvation Army, about bullying for ChildLine, about the foot and mouth outbreak for the Today programme, about the Paddington rail disaster, the 11 September attacks and Harry Patch for the BBC, and more recently about shell shock for the charity Combat Stress, and climate change for the song cycle I've finished for Cambridge University with Peter Maxwell Davies."[10] In 2003, Motion wrote Regime change, a poem in protest at Invasion of Iraq from the point of view of Death walking the streets during the conflict,[11][12] and in 2005, Spring Wedding in honour of the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles. Commissioned to write in the honour of 109 year old Harry Patch, the last surviving 'Tommy' to have fought in World War I, Motion composed a five part poem, read and received by Patch at the Bishop's Palace in Wells in 2008.[13] As laureate, he also founded the Poetry Archive an on-line library of historic and contemporary recordings of poets reciting their own work.[14]
Motion remarked that he found some of the duties attendant to the post of poet laureate difficult and onerous and that the appointment had been "very, very damaging to [his] work".[15] The appointment of Motion met with criticism from some quarters.[16] As he prepared to stand down from the job, Motion published an article in The Guardian which concluded, "To have had 10 years working as laureate has been remarkable. Sometimes it's been remarkably difficult, the laureate has to take a lot of flak, one way or another. More often it has been remarkably fulfilling. I'm glad I did it, and I'm glad I'm giving it up – especially since I mean to continue working for poetry." [10][17] Motion spent his last day as Poet Laureate holding a creative writing class at his alma mater, Radley College, before giving a poetry reading and thanking Peter Way, the man who taught him English at Radley, for making him who he was. Carol Ann Duffy succeeded him as Poet Laureate on 1 May 2009.

Andrew Motion nació en 1952. Estudió en el University College de Oxford y empezó su carrera enseñando inglés en la Universidad de Hull. También ha sido director de Poetry Review, director editorial de Chatto & Windus, y Poeta Laureado; asimismo, fue cofundador del Poetry Archive, y en 2009 se le concedió el título de Sir por su obra literaria. En la actualidad es profesor de escritura creativa en el Royal Holloway, de la Universidad de Londres. Es miembro de la Royal Society of Literature y vive en Londres. Con un elenco de nobles marineros y crueles piratas, y llena de historias de amor y de valentía, Regreso a la isla del tesoro es una trepidante continuación de La isla del tesoro, escrita con extraordinaria autenticidad y fuerza imaginativa por uno de los grandes escritores ingleses actuales. ...more

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Andrew Motion’s books

Average rating: 3.82 · 5,282 ratings · 855 reviews · 96 distinct works • Similar authors

	Silver (Return to Treasure Island #1) 3.29 avg rating — 1,165 ratings — published 2012 — 36 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Keats 4.17 avg rating — 350 ratings — published 1997 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Philip Larkin: A Writer's Life 4.06 avg rating — 216 ratings — published 1982 — 12 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The New World 3.11 avg rating — 140 ratings — published 2014 — 11 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Invention of Dr Cake 3.13 avg rating — 89 ratings — published 2003 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Poetry by Heart: A Treasury of Poems to Read Aloud 3.95 avg rating — 63 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	In the Blood: A Memoir of My Childhood 3.98 avg rating — 83 ratings — published 2007 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Here To Eternity: An Anthology Of Poetry 3.78 avg rating — 77 ratings — published 2001 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Selected Poems, 1976-1997 3.82 avg rating — 62 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse by Andrew Motion (Editor), Philip Larkin (Editor) 3.93 avg rating — 43 ratings — published 1972	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Series by Andrew Motion

Return to Treasure Island (2 books)
by

Andrew Motion

3.27 avg rating — 1,305 ratings

The Pale Companion (2 books)
by

Andrew Motion

it was ok 2.00 avg rating — 4 ratings

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Quotes by Andrew Motion

“Poems are a hotline to our hearts, and we forget this emotional power at our peril.”
― Andrew Motion

tags: emotion, hearts, motion, poetry

297 likes

“Nor can we see the coffin of a person we have known, without experiencing some new shock of loss. In this respect, a coffin is like a mirror, in which we see the image of our own condition, and understand that our human differences, whether of appearance, morality or wealth, must finally be reconciled.”
― Andrew Motion, The Invention of Dr Cake

9 likes

“[American Psycho] is ”throughout numbingly boring, and for much of the time deeply and extremely disgusting. Not interesting-disgusting, but disgusting-disgusting: sickening, cheaply sensationalist, pointless except as a way of earning its author some money and notoriety.”
― Andrew Motion

tags: bad-reviews

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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Imprinted Life: Keats: A Biography by Andrew Motion	3	8	Jun 07, 2012 06:31PM
easy peasy readin...: What's everybody reading?	358	82	Aug 13, 2012 09:59AM
The Seasonal Read...: Winter Challenge 2012-2013: Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE ANY POSTS IN THIS TOPIC	2526	822	Feb 28, 2013 09:01PM
Crazy Challenge C...: It's Beginning to Sound a Lot Like Christmas	149	141	Mar 16, 2013 04:05PM
21st Century Lite...: 2014 Wellcome Book Prize	2	38	May 12, 2014 09:35AM
Reading with Style: 20.7 - Call and Response	96	52	Aug 09, 2014 05:39PM
All About Books: Carol's 2015 Reading Challenge	22	46	Dec 21, 2014 12:45PM
The Book Club: Books and Authors in the Media	71	96	Jan 14, 2015 01:36PM

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Andrew Motion’s Followers (53)

Andrew Motion

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Combine Editions
Andrew Motion’s books