Lecture by John Barnie - 23 April 2008
Within the framework of Martin Leer's seminar "Epic or Novel? The Contemporary Narrative Poem in English", Mr John Barnie, poet, novelist, essayist and musician from Aberystwyth, Wales, gave a lecture on "The difference, from the author's point of view, between writing prose fiction and narrative poetry", on Wednesday 23 April, from 4.00 pm to 6.00 pm in room Phil 006a.
John Barnie was born in Abergavenny, on the Welsh Borders. He holds a Ph.D. in medieval literature and history from the University of Birmingham (the basis of his monograph "War in the Middle Ages") and has taught at several universities. For 25 years, until 2007, he was the editor of the leading Welsh cultural magazine "Planet: the Welsh Internationalist", at the same time as he played blues and skiffle and published several collections of poetry, prose fiction and essays (on literature, politics and the environment); he has written the only book in Welsh on the blues. His novel in verse "Ice", which he will be discussing on 23 April, appeared from Gomer in 2001, his "Selected Poems: Sea Lilies" appeared in 2006 and the latest collection "Trouble in Heaven" in 2007.