Name David Harsent Role Poet | ||
![]() | ||
Nominations Goodreads Choice Awards Best Graphic Novels & Comics Books Managing a consumer, A Logo for London, Down into Darkness, Boy Eats World!, A Bird's Idea of Flight Similar People Harrison Birtwistle, Julia Watson, Huw Watkins, Karen Marie Moning, Al Rio | ||
Children Hannah Cranogwen Harsent |
Poet David Harsent reads from Night
David Harsent (born in Devon on 9 December 1942) is an English poet and TV scriptwriter. As Jack Curtis and David Lawrence he has published a number of crime fiction novels.
Contents
- Poet David Harsent reads from Night
- Poet david harsent reads from selected poems 1969 2005
- Background
- Writing as Jack Curtis
- Writing as David Lawrence
- Prizes and awards
- References

Poet david harsent reads from selected poems 1969 2005
Background

During his early career he was part of a circle of poets centred on Ian Hamilton and forming something of a school, promoting conciseness and imagist-like clarity in verse, though his work has changed and developed a good deal since then.

He has published nine collections of poetry which have won several literary prizes and awards. Legion won the Forward Prize for best collection 2005 and was shortlisted for both the T.S. Eliot and Whitbread Awards. His work in music theatre has involved collaborations with a number of composers (but most often with Sir Harrison Birtwistle, the opera Gawain being their most notable collaboration) and has been performed at the Royal Opera House, Carnegie Hall, the Southbank Centre, The Proms, the Wiener Kammeroper, and broadcast on BBC Two, Channel 4 and Trio (USA). A new opera, The Minotaur (also with Birtwistle), opened at The Royal Opera House in 2008. Birtwistle once again turned to Harsent's words for his major song cycle Songs from the Same Earth (2012–13). Harsent is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway University and in 2005 was appointed Distinguished Writing Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University, where he is now a visiting professor In 2012 he was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.

He left Bath Spa University in favour of The University of Roehampton in July 2013 after receiving an honorary degree.

He lives with his wife, the actress Julia Watson, and their daughter in Barnes, London.
Writing as Jack Curtis
