John Mole is a British poet and jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

tist.

He has won several prizes for his poetry including an Eric Gregory Award

Eric Gregory Award

The Eric Gregory Award is given by the Society of Authors to British poets under 30 on submission. The awards are up to a sum value of £24000 annually....

, the Cholmondeley Award

Cholmondeley Award

The Cholmondeley Award is an annual award for poetry given by the Society of Authors in the United Kingdom. Awards honour distinguished poets, from a fund endowed by the late Dowager Marchioness of Cholmondeley in 1966...

, and the Signal Award for children's poetry. He is Writer in Residence at Magdalene College, Cambridge

Magdalene College, Cambridge

Magdalene College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1428 as a Benedictine hostel, in time coming to be known as Buckingham College, before being refounded in 1542 as the College of St Mary Magdalene...

 and Poet in Residence to the Poets Society in the City of London

City of London

The City of London is a small area within Greater London, England. It is the historic core of London around which the modern conurbation grew and has held city status since time immemorial. The City’s boundaries have remained almost unchanged since the Middle Ages, and it is now only a tiny part of...

. He is also Poet in Residence of Poet in the City

Poet in the City

Poet in the City is a prominent London-based poetry charity, specializing in large-scale live events aimed at new audiences for poetry. Founded in 1999 by Rosamund McCarthy as a project of the Poetry Society, it became an independent charity in 2006...

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John Mole has written many poems for children. He regularly visits schools for poetry workshops. His poems include “Variations on an old Rhyme” and “The Balancing Man”, both of which discuss political issues in a manner relevant to young people.

He wrote the libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 to the opera Alban

Alban (opera)

Alban is a community opera in two acts with music by Tom Wiggall and libretto by John Mole .The opera was commissioned by St Albans Cathedral Community Trust as a celebration of the patron saint of their city. The world premiere took place in May 2009 when five performances were given in the space...

, a community opera which was set to music by Tom Wiggall

Tom Wiggall

Tom Wiggall is a British composer who writes music for film and for the stage. He has taught composition in the University of Birmingham, Birmingham Conservatoire and Birkbeck, University of London....

 and performed in May 2009 in St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral

St Albans Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral church at St Albans, England. At , its nave is the longest of any cathedral in England...

to great acclaim.

He has recorded a reading of his poetry for the Poetry Archive which is now available on CD.