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Ian McEwan on James Fenton
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"There is a strong case to be made that
James Fenton is the finest poet writing in English. His technical
virtuosity is beyond doubt; his long experience as war correspondent,
journalist and traveller has given him an unmatched range of subject
matter - war and revolution, the dementia of collective passions,
reflections on fate, and love - he has written some of the most
beautiful love poems of our times. He is a poet of great emotional
depth and wisdom. Increasingly, his work has a strong connection
with song. He also has a taste for light verse of exquisite charm
and humour. He is a modern master."
-- Ian McEwan, responding to a question from the National
Book Critics Circle |
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James Fenton was born in Lincoln in 1949 and educated at Magdalen College,
Oxford where he won the Newdigate Prize for poetry. He has worked as political
journalist, drama critic, book reviewer, war correspondent, foreign correspondent
and columnist. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was
Oxford Professor of Poetry for the period 1994-99. Fenton received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2007, and in 2015 won the PEN Pinter Prize.
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James Fenton & Darryl Pinckney
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"The Love Portfolio: Darryl Pinckney + James Fenton," OUT Magazine, 4 Jan. 2017.
When two writers were introduced by Susan Sontag, it was the start of a story that’s still unfolding.
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The Milkfish Gatherers
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'The Milkfish Gatherers' (The film's director Jay Anania states: "In the late 80's I visited James on a small island just off a town called Infanta on the east coast of Luzon in the Philippines. This is where he had come across the milkfish gatherers.")
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