John Barnie Explained

John Barnie (born 1941)[1] is a Welsh poet, essayist and editor, who was born in Abergavenny.[2]

He was a lecturer in the University of Copenhagen from 1969 until 1982. Following his return to Wales he was appointed assistant editor of the magazine and took over as editor in 1990 until 2006. He is a prolific poet with collections from various presses, most recently Cinnamon Press[3] and won an Arts Council of Wales Prize for Literature in 1990 with his essay collection The King of Ashes. A more recent project[4] with the Oxford Museum of Natural History based on his A Report to Alpha Centauri[5] focuses on his concern for nature and environmental issues.

Reviewers of his work have noted his interest in paleoanthropology and his pessimism about the evolutionary path taken by humans.[6] But they have also identified a wry humour in the presentation of this theme in his poetry[7] and a counter to an apparently misanthropic stance in his positive affirmation of the natural world, an ambivalence, in the words of one reviewer "that adds, rather than subtracts", from the experience of reading his work[8] while another has commented on his sense of the Earth as an inhuman place in spite of our certainty of our place in it [9] and.[10]

According to The Poetry Book Society, "Barnie's poetry shines an uncomfortable light onto issues of ecological degradation, mass extinction and mortality, yet remains lyrical and wry".[11]

His work is discussed in an interview for Sustainable Wales[12] with Robert Minhinnick.

He is also a musician with the blues band, Hollow Log.[13]

A volume of tributes to him from fellow poets, artists, musicians and critics, Wired to the Dynamo,[14] was published in 2018.

Publications

Academic

Essays

Fiction

Autobiographical

On blues music (in Welsh)

Poetry

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Barnie, John, 1941- - National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts. Archives.library.wales. 27 August 2024.
  2. Web site: Press, performances, and events - John Barnie Papers. Archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. 27 August 2024.
  3. Web site: Search Results for "John Barnie " . 2022-04-15 . Cinnamonpress.com.
  4. Web site: John Barnie . 2022-04-15 . Oumnh.ox.ac.uk . en.
  5. Web site: Tyrrell . Thomas . 2021-11-16 . A Report to Alpha Centauri by John Barnie Poetry . 2022-04-15 . Wales Arts Review . en-US.
  6. Web site: Gopal Lahiri . Poetry Wales 57.3 Spring 2022 . 2023-01-18 . Poetry Wales . 18 July 2022 . en-GB.
  7. News: 2010-05-14 . Poetry, in brief Book reviews . 2023-01-18 . . en.
  8. Web site: Tyrrell . Thomas . 2021-11-16 . A Report to Alpha Centauri by John Barnie Poetry . 2023-01-18 . Wales Arts Review . en-US.
  9. Web site: Matthew Jarvis, 'In/Human Place: The Poetry of John Barnie' - University of Wales .
  10. Matthew Jarvis In/Human Place Wired to the Dynamo, Cinnamon Press, 2018
  11. Web site: Sunglasses by John Barnie . Poetrybooks.co.uk.
  12. Web site: A HAPPY PESSIMIST? AN INTERVIEW WITH JOHN BARNIE . 2022-04-18 . Sustainablewales.org.uk . 15 November 2016 . en-GB.
  13. Web site: Hollow Log Aberystwyth Arts Centre . 2022-04-18 . Aberystwythartscentre.co.uk . cy.
  14. Web site: 9781788640046, Wired to the Dynamo - Poetry & Prose in Honour of John Barnie . 2022-04-15 . Gwales.com.

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