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Polly Clark

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Polly Clark (born 1968) is a Canadian-born British writer and poet.[1] Her first novel, Larchfield, about the author W. H. Auden, was published in 2017.

Background

Clark was born in Toronto and came to the UK as a child, growing up in Cumbria, Lancashire and the Scottish border area.[1] She now lives in Scotland and produces the Literature Programme at Cove Park, Scotland's International Artist Residency Centre, near Helensburgh.[2] She has had a varied career, including a period as a teacher of English in Hungary and as a zookeeper.[3] She was Poet in Residence for the Southern Daily Echo.[4][5]

Her first novel, Larchfield, was published in March 2017 and is based on the short period spent by W. H. Auden as a teacher at the Larchfield Academy in Helensburgh, Scotland (where he wrote The Orators).[2] Larchfield won the 2015 Mslexia Women's Novel Competition (under its draft title, When Auden Met Dora).[6] David Robinson in The National and Books from Scotland calls it "layered, clever, captivating".[2] John Boyne 'Magical and transcendent . . . I suspect that few debuts in 2017 will match the elegance of Larchfield. This is a beautiful novel: passionate, lyrical and surprising. I will remember Larchfield for a long time.'[7]. Stuart Kelly in The Scotsman remained immune to its charms, however, saying "it is not a work for which I would recommend a reader parting with money".[8]

In 2017, Clark contributed to a BBC2 documentary on Auden's life[9] and wrote a piece for the Guardian on childbirth.[10]

Works

Poetry

  • Kiss (Bloodaxe Books 2000)
  • Take Me With You (Bloodaxe Books 2005; shortlisted for the TS Eliot Prize)
  • Farewell My Lovely (Bloodaxe Books 2009)
  • A Handbook for the Afterlife A Pamphlet (Templar 2015; shortlisted for the Michael Marks Awards)

Book

  • Larchfield (2017)

References

  1. ^ a b "Polly Clark". Jenny Brown Associates. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  2. ^ a b c "DAVID ROBINSON REVIEWS: LARCHFIELD BY POLLY CLARK". Books from Scotland. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Polly Clark". Poetry International Web. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  4. ^ "Poet Polly meets laureate". The Daily Echo. 12 December 2001. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Rhyming gang: Thornden School pupils prove they are well-versed in creativity". The Salisbury Journal. 8 March 2003. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  6. ^ Polly Clark - Women's Novel Competition 2015 winner, Mslexia. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  7. ^ Boyne, John. "Larchfield review: John Boyne on a 'passionate and surprising debut'". Irish Times.
  8. ^ Stuart Kelly (20 April 2017). "Book review: Larchfield by Polly Clark". The Scotsman. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  9. ^ "BBC2 WH Auden film featuring Larchfield". Polly Clark official website. 27 September 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  10. ^ Clark, Polly. "Guardian Family piece". Guardian. Guardian.
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