Graham Burchell is a British poet and children's author. In February 2008 Foothills Publishing published his volume of poetry Vermeer's Corner and Erbacce Press published Ladies of Divided Twins. In the same month his children's book Chester and the Green Pig, previously published as an ebook in September 2007, was published as a print book by Calderwood Books. The sequel, Chester and the Spell Breaker will be published later in 2008. He also has two other previously other published children's books, Wumpleberries and Gronglenuts and The Ice Spells of Krollinad.
Background & Career
editGraham's prize-winning poetry is widely published in both print and online magazines. He is also the editor of Words-Myth.
He ventured into a full-time writing career in 2004 when he moved from his last teaching post in Santiago, Chile to Houston, Texas. He returned to Dawlish, Devon, England in October 2007. He had been a teacher for twenty eight years, working in Wales, Zambia, Saudi Arabia, England, Tenerife, Mexico, France and Chile.
On returning to England, Graham joined Devon's Moor Poets. He has two poems on their new CD UNCHARTED
Graham won the 2005 Chapter One Promotions Poetry Competition and he was the runner up in the Into Africa International Poetry Competition, judged by Roger McGough in the same year. He also received an honourable mention in the 2005 Momaya Press Short Story Competition. In 2006 He won the Hazel Street Productions Poetry Competition and he received an honourable mention in the Ware Open Poetry Competition. In this year he was also nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Reviews for Vermeer's Corner:
These poems, like Vermeer's paintings, seek to capture close, intimate moments in the lives of ordinary people. Burchell's language creates flowers without being flowery, and remains consistent to the intellect, expectations and emotional abilities of his subjects without falling into the trap of condescending to his characters.
Damian Kelleher for Four Volts Magazine (Click HERE to read Damian's full review)
Reviews for Ladies of Divided Twins:
Graham Burchell manages to set a scene of ambitious awareness and craft in his latest collection. His words haunt us with clarity and suggestion. Stark and emotionally rich. This book is a sublime addition to art and its author a notable voice in contemporary poetry. Lisa Zaran; Contemporary American Voices
Like Glowworms in July, Graham Burchell's poems flash their brief lightnings and draw us near. In Ladies of Divided Twins, his alternately sad, brilliant, torn, and tantalizing women are presences who strike fire with every glance. Charles Ades Fishman Author of Chopin's Piano, Country of Memory and others.
Graham Burchell tells us that "this party is over," but for those of us who absorb these strong poems, the party is something we will eagerly return to again, and again. L. Ward Abel; Author of Jonesing for Byzantium and Peach Box and Verge.
Burchell is unafraid to write his poems using variations of meter and with stanzas ranging from triplets to quintains to free verse to help capture the essence of the woman he is 'expressing'. The styles used are as varied as the women themselves, which both refreshes the text and helps to honour the importance of the message being conveyed. These women, Burchell seems to be saying, are organic creatures and will not be confined within the cage of repetitious four-line stanzas. The poetry should be moulded to who they are, and not the other way around. Elle's Competitive Nature, one of the strongest poems in the collection and perhaps the longest, is written in a series of broken stanzas that scatter across two pages as we learn of her difficulties that come from having 'breasts and brain' too big for her body. Elle, 'strong willed yet brittle' has a strong fear of commitment, pregnancy, life, death. We emerge from the poem with a strong sense of this woman, aided in no small manner by the way in which it was composed, all jagged stanzas and broken lines.
Reviews for Chester and the Green Pig:
Imagine Chester's surprise when he wakes up one morning to find a green pig in his backyard. His immediate reaction is that no one is going to believe him so when the pig runs out of the yard, Chester follows. After a while, it seems like the pig is leading Chester somewhere in particular. This fact is validated then the pig speaks.
Green Pig, what else could his name possibly be, takes Chester to a world where all the animals and plants speak. They all have cleaver names like Sheriff Wet Pants McTumble-Dry, Hissing Steam-Iron, Dr. Paddy O'Chair, etc. Everyone needs Chester's help, the Fat Food Fairy has been capturing children using delicious pizza and chocolate desserts to trap them.
Chester and the Green Pig is a riveting adventure. It was a chuckle throughout. By Dr. Tami Brady for TCM Reviews