Biography

Described by Chiron Review

Chiron Review

Chiron Review is a literary journal based in St. John, Kansas. It was founded as The Kindred Spirit in February 1982, by Michael Hathaway shortly after graduating high school and taking a job as typesetter at a local daily newspaper. In March, 1989, the title was changed to Chiron Review.Jane...

as 'the finest love poet of his generation', Parks was born in 1959 in Mexborough

Mexborough

Mexborough is a town in the metropolitan borough of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England, situated on the north bank of the River Don west of its confluence with the River Dearne...

, South Yorkshire. The son of a miner, Parks grew up during the declining years of the industry - something which was to have a profound effect on his later work. His first collection of poems, Gargoyles in Winter was published in 1986, the same year in which he received a Yorkshire Arts Award. From 1986-88 he was writer-in-residence at North Riding College, Scarborough. He was made a Hawthornden Fellow in 1991 and was awarded a Travelling Fellowship to the USA in 1994, spending most of his year in New England. He did research into Chartist

Chartism

Chartism was a movement for political and social reform in the United Kingdom during the mid-19th century, between 1838 and 1859. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838. Chartism was possibly the first mass working class labour movement in the world...

 poetry in Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 and was one of the Poetry Society

Poetry Society

The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry".The Society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society in 1912...

 New Poets in 1996.

His collections include A Climb Through Altered Landscapes (Blackwater, 1998), Shell Island (Waywiser, 2006), The Cage (Flux Gallery Press, 2008), Love Poems 1979-2009 (Flux Gallery Press, 2009) and The Landing Stage (Lapwing, Belfast, 2010).

He has taught creative writing at the universities of Sheffied

University of Sheffield

The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...

, Hull

University of Hull

The University of Hull, known informally as Hull University, is an English university, founded in 1927, located in Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire...

, Oxford and Leeds

University of Leeds

The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...

, and currently acts as a panelist for the TMA Theatre Awards. He was poetry editor at Dream Catcher magazine from 2000-2006. His poems have appeared in Poetry Review, The Observer

The Observer

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...

, The Liberal

The Liberal

The Liberal is a UK-based online magazine "dedicated to promoting liberalism around the world". The publication explores liberal attitudes to a range of cultural issues, and encourages a dialogue between liberal politics and the liberal arts...

, Poetry Salzburg Review

Poetry Salzburg Review

Poetry Salzburg Review is an English language, biannual literary magazine published by Poetry Salzburg at the University of Salzburg and edited by Wolfgang Görtschacher and Andreas Schachermayr. It is a successor to The Poet's Voice which was edited and published in Austria by British poets Fred...

,The Independent on Sunday, Poetry (Chicago), London Magazine

London Magazine

The London Magazine is a historied publication of arts, literature and miscellaneous interests. Its history ranges nearly three centuries and several reincarnations, publishing the likes of William Wordsworth, William S...

, The Chiron Review, The Rialto, Stand

Stand

Stand may refer to:*Stand, Greater Manchester, a residential area in the Metropolitan Borough of Manchester, England*A partnership in cricket*STAND: A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition...

, Acumen

Acumen

Acumen may refer to:* The ability to make good judgments and quick decisions, for example in the case of Business acumen* Acumen Fund, a non-profit global venture fund* Acumen Nation, an American rock music group...

, Poetry Greece and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3

BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...

. His pamphlet, A Paston Letter was published by Rack Press and a selection of his poems appears in Old City: New Rumours edited by Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens

Carol Rumens FRSL is a British poet.-Life:Carol Rumens was born in Forest Hill, South London. She won a scholarship to grammar school and later studied Philosophy at London University, but left before completing her degree...

 and Ian Gregson

Ian Gregson

Ian Gregson is a disabled activist and author in British Columbia, Canada.He was born in St Helens, Lancashire, England on September 2, 1962. As a young boy his promising athletic career in track and field seemed to end on May 18, 1978 during his lunch hour at Ashton-in-Makerfield Grammar School ,...

. He is the editor of Born into an Unquiet: T. F. Griffin at Sixty. 'I never started out to be a love poet' Parks states in the preface to his Love Poems 1979-2009 - 'there's never been a point where I've set myself an agenda or a strategy. The love poems have just happened, appearing out of the blue and prompted by circumstances. They called and I responded'.

Opinions of his Work

Reviewing Shell Island Ben Ramm (The Liberal Magazine) wrote: 'Ian Parks is the rarest of contemporary poets - a skilled versifier, respectful of his craft, and bouyed up rather than weighed down by its tradition. These poems demonstrate a remarkable aural sensitivity and control. Parks is finely attuned to the landscape's variance, its measured pulse, its echo and persisting memory. Here are sagacious, elegaic verses, at once visceral and tender, local and possessive of an organic unity: this is an impressive collection from an important poet.'

Reviewing The Landing Stage in Acumen William Bedford wrote: 'This could be Eliot, but it isn't... it could be Frost, but again it isn't. Parks has gone beyond his influences. Politics is a moral passion in The Landing Stage and love the theatre of our anguish. This fine poet is hinting at everything we need to know to make us human.'