Phil Bowen

Philip Hugh Bowen (born 1949) is a British poet, playwright, performer, teacher and biographer. He grew up in Liverpool, where he taught from 1972 to 1979. During the 1980s, he was a publican before becoming a full-time writer in 1992. He lives in Cornwall and works all over the country as a performer and writer in schools.

Books

Poetry

• That Was Peter Glaze – Ure Press – 1993,
• The Professor’s Boots – Westwords – 1994,
• Jewels & Binoculars (Ed) – Stride 1994,
• Things We Said Today (Ed) Stride -1995,
• Variety’s Hammer – Stride – 1997,
• Starfly – Stride – 2004,
• Nowhere’s Far – New & Selected Poems 1990–2009 – Salt Publications,

As Contributor

• Hepworth –Westwords – 1993,
• Return to Sender – Headlock – 1994,
• The Bridport Anthology – Sansom - 1995,
• The Forward Anthology – Forward – 1998,
• Paradise for Sale – Arts Council Collection – 1998,
• Welsh Routes – Liverpool Community Spirit – 2006,
• Hidden Histories – Exeter University – 2007,
• You Have Been Warned – Oxford - 2008,

Prose

• A Gallery to Play to – the story of the Mersey Poets – Stride – 1998, Updated and republished – Liverpool University Press - 2008.

Plays

• A Handful Of Rain: New York City, Edinburgh, Swansea, New End Theatre – 1999 - 2002,
• The Same Boat: Swansea, Cardiff and at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2003/4,
• The Other Side of the Words: Swansea Penzance in 2004 – St Ives 2006,
• Chimney Kids– (a musical for children with Paul Butler): Camborne, 2004, Swansea 2006,
• Anything But Love: New End London 2007, Swansea 2008, St Ives Festival 2009, Cheltenham Literature Festival 2010
• Parlez Vous Jig Jig: Swansea, 2004, 2006, Shakespeare Link, Powys, Rosemary Branch, London 2008.
• A Case of the Poet: London 2006, Hull 2007,

Other publications

• Crafting Poetry – Original Writing for GCSE Readings by Phil Bowen – DMEC
• The Blue Hand DVD (DMEC)
• Adventures in Poetry – Radio 4 - Tonight at Noon – Adrian Henri 2004
• Centre of the Creative Universe – Liverpool & the Avant-Garde – Liverpool University Press and Tate Liverpool – 2007 . Revisiting Allen Ginsberg’s Liverpool trip in 1965….

Radio, Television and Film

• Poetry Please
• Write Out Loud
• Something Understood
• The Archive Hour
• Adventures in Poetry - Radio 4
• Happy Birthday Poetry - Radio 2
• London Weekend TV
• Laughing Gas (Andrew Lanyon Films) - Mister Aquaviva Pilot for Theta Films 2007/08

Awards

• The Ralph Lewis Award 1997 (Sussex University)
• The Bridport Prize 1998 Runner Up

External links

• Poetry Lesson
• The Playwrights Database - Phil Bowen
• Phil Bowen: Generosity and Power in Poetry – from a talk by the poet and playwright at the fiftieth anniversary celebration at The Dylan Thomas Festival 2003
• Phil Bowen on topofthetree