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David Harsent (born inDevon in 1942) is anEnglish poet who for some time earned his living as a TV scriptwriter and crime novelist.[1]
During his early career he was part of a circle of poets centred onIan Hamilton and forming something of a school, promoting conciseness andimagist-like clarity in verse, though his work has changed and developed a good deal since then.[citation needed]
He has published twelve 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.Night (2012) was triple short-listed for major awards in the UK and won the Griffin International Poetry Prize.Fire Songs won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2014.Sprinting from the Graveyard, his versions of poems written by the Bosnian poetGoran Simić, while under siege in Sarajevo, appeared in 1997 and was adapted to opera, radio and television.In Secret, his versions ofYiannis Ritsos, was published in 2012. His work in music theatre has involved collaborations with a number of composers (but most often with SirHarrison Birtwistle) and has been performed at theRoyal Opera House,Carnegie Hall, theSouthbank Centre,The Proms, theWiener Kammeroper, the Southbank Centre, the Aldeburgh Festival, the Holland Festival, and broadcast onBBC Two,Channel 4 and Trio (USA).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 cycleSongs from the Same Earth (2012–13) and for the chamber operasThe Corridor andThe Cure.. The New York Times described Harsent and Birtwistle as a 'team creating alchemy'. Other words for music include operasCrime Fiction andIn the Locked Room (music by Huw Watkins) andWhen She Died (music by Jonathan Dove), together with the song cycleMan Made: an early response to the climate crisis (music by Christian Mason) and an oratorio,The Judas Passion (music by Sally Beamish). Harsent is aFellow of the Royal Society of Literature[2] and Fellow of the Hellenic Authors Society. He was appointed Distinguished Writing Fellow atSheffield Hallam University.[3] In 2012 he was appointed Professor of Creative Writing atBath Spa University.[4] He left Bath Spa University in favour of The University of Roehampton in July 2013 after receiving an honorary degree.[5]
He lives with his wife, the actressJulia Watson, and their daughter inBarnes, London.[6]
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