Sir Andrew Motion is a British writer from London, England. He was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom (1999-2009), and is one of the most distinguished professors and excellent authors of English literature. Motion became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1984, Chairman of the Arts Council of England’s Literature Pane in 1996, and a Knight in 2009.
Motion is founder of Poetry Archive, the world’s premiere online collection of recordings of poets reading their work. He was the editor of Poetry Review and worked for two publishing houses in 1980. Motion has taught creative writing. He was a Lecturer at the University of Hull (1977-1981), the University of East Anglia in Norwich, and Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway College, University of London.
His poetry collections include The Pleasure Steamers, Independence, Secret Narratives, Dangerous Play: Poems 1974-1984, Natural Causes, Love in a Life, The Price of Everything, Salt Water, Peace Talks, and Coming Home. These works have received many accolades such as the Newdigate Prize at Oxford, the Mail on Sunday / John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Dylan Thomas Award, the Arvon Observer Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Whitbread Prize for Biography, and the Wilfred Owen Poetry Award. He was also shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry in 2010. Here to Eternity is also a truly brilliant poetry anthology selected by him. I am very thankful to have met the writer Sir Andrew Motion in my lifetime.
Motion wrote a poem in 2007 for Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Wedding anniversary, read in Westminster Abbey. The poems written in honor of the Royal Family are greatly admired and appreciated. Motion also wrote for the Queen of England’s golden jubilee and on her mother’s death.
He is credited as contributor to the film, Bright Star. Director Jane Campion was drawn to Motion’s writing on Keats, and so was inspired to write the screenplay. The film presents the life of the writer, John Keats, in a love story, or a romanticized drama.
Motion is currently one of the best poets teaching an advanced workshop at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. An inspiration to writers, he is a profound, legendary poet and will be remembered in the history of great, expert writers.
Works Cited
Andrew Motion, Academy of American Poets. poets.org.
“Andrew Motion,” Poetry Foundation.
Andrew Motion, The Poetry Archive. 2005-2016.
Andrew Motion, “Books,” The Guardian.
“Interview with Andrew Motion,” The Daily Telegraph. March 2009.
(Featured image credit: Faber & Faber.)