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Simon Armitage interviewed by George Murray (Audio)

During a recent book tour of his own, George had the pleasure of reading with one of the world's great poets, Simon Armitage, in Montreal and then swapping anecdotes with him and other poets over dinner. Armitage, a genuinely nice fellow, as evidenced in the audio inteview below, has recently seen his first Canadian publication with Tyrannosaurus Rex versus the Courdoroy Kid, and was touring the cities that pockmark the vast emptiness of Canada. He generously agreed to be interviewed at the Anansi head office in downtown Toronto. Simon starts with a poem and Murray asks him about his North American reception, the climate for poetry and books in general, poetry in education, the use of humour in verse, and his new translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Armitage's answers are considered, erudite, and even a little surprising towards the end...

Simon Armitage Interview
(20:54) (4.8 mb)
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Simon Armitage has published ten volumes of poetry, for which he has won numerous awards, including a Forward Prize, the Sunday Times Young Author of the Year, the Eric Gregory Award, and a Lannan Award, in addition to being shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award (for The Dead Sea Poems). His first US publication, The Shout, was shortlisted for the National Book Critics' Circle Award in 2005. He is the author of the bestselling prose memoir All Points North and the novels Little Green Man and The White Stuff. Armitage lives in West Yorkshire, UK.

George Murray is the author of four books of poetry, including the recently released The Rush to Here, and is also the editor and publisher of Bookninja.com.

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