This Mike bloke...
Mike Jenkins is an award-winning Welsh poet and author. What's Mike up to?
Follow Mike on facebook to keep up with his latest readings and publications. Mike previously judged The Welsh Poetry Competition and encourages you to read the winning entries HERE.
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The back story...
Mike Jenkins won Wales Book of the Year in 1998 for his collection of interlinked short stories Wanting to Belong. He has also won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors, The Young Writers Prize from the Welsh Arts Council for Empire of Smoke and the John Tripp Award for Spoken Poetry.
Mike is at the forefront of contemporary Welsh writing and is a fellow of the Academi, the Welsh Society for Authors. He is a former editor of Poetry Wales magazine and has co-edited Red Poets for 19 years, an annual magazine of left-wing poetry from Wales and beyond.
Poetry forms the bulk of Mike's published work, though he has recently written two novellas, one for children entitled Barbsmashive and another, The Fugitive Three, which is for adults. His latest book of poetry is published by Seren and is called 'Moor Music'.
Mike's next big project is 'Barkin!', a book consisting of poems and stories in Merthyr dialect to be published by Carreg Gwalch. Please visit the Publications page for more information.
Mike is a retired teacher of English and his last job was at Radyr Comprehensive School, Cardiff. He previously taught at Pen-y-dre High School in Merthyr for 20 years.
He is an energetic and much-respected host of Creative Writing workshops for children and adults at schools, universities, writing centres, libraries and other venues across the UK. These include the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and Ty Newydd National Writers' Centre for Wales. Please do contact him for more information.
As 'unofficial poet' of Cardiff City Football Club, Mike chronicled the team's historic 2008 FA Cup run. He appears frequently on radio and television.
Mike has lived in Merthyr Tudful in the heart of the South Wales Valleys for over 30 years. He is married with three children, the youngest is thirteen years old and is a constant source of inspiration.
Mike's daughter, Bethan, is the Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for South Wales West. His son, Ciaran, is a reporter on Channel 4 News.
Mike is at the forefront of contemporary Welsh writing and is a fellow of the Academi, the Welsh Society for Authors. He is a former editor of Poetry Wales magazine and has co-edited Red Poets for 19 years, an annual magazine of left-wing poetry from Wales and beyond.
Poetry forms the bulk of Mike's published work, though he has recently written two novellas, one for children entitled Barbsmashive and another, The Fugitive Three, which is for adults. His latest book of poetry is published by Seren and is called 'Moor Music'.
Mike's next big project is 'Barkin!', a book consisting of poems and stories in Merthyr dialect to be published by Carreg Gwalch. Please visit the Publications page for more information.
Mike is a retired teacher of English and his last job was at Radyr Comprehensive School, Cardiff. He previously taught at Pen-y-dre High School in Merthyr for 20 years.
He is an energetic and much-respected host of Creative Writing workshops for children and adults at schools, universities, writing centres, libraries and other venues across the UK. These include the Aldeburgh Poetry Festival and Ty Newydd National Writers' Centre for Wales. Please do contact him for more information.
As 'unofficial poet' of Cardiff City Football Club, Mike chronicled the team's historic 2008 FA Cup run. He appears frequently on radio and television.
Mike has lived in Merthyr Tudful in the heart of the South Wales Valleys for over 30 years. He is married with three children, the youngest is thirteen years old and is a constant source of inspiration.
Mike's daughter, Bethan, is the Plaid Cymru Assembly Member for South Wales West. His son, Ciaran, is a reporter on Channel 4 News.