Quick Facts
Biography
John Birtwhistle (born 1946) is an English poet whose libretto for David Blake’s opera The Plumber’s Gift (1989) was staged by English National Opera at the London Coliseum and broadcast on Radio 3.
Career
Birtwhistle, a "master craftsman", won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 1975. His poetry was also recognized by an Arts Council bursary, an Arts Council creative writing fellowship (1976–78), a writing fellowship at the University of Southampton (1978–80) and a Poetry Book Society recommendation for Our Worst Suspicions (1985).
He has had three concert libretti set and performed. Some of Birtwhistle's early poems were translated by Ștefan Augustin Doinaș and published in Romanian. His 1996 libretto for The Fabulous Adventures of Alexander the Great by composer David Blake was translated into Greek.
Birtwhistle also contributed "Occasion of the essay", a digital introduction to John Clare's essay "Popularity in Authorship" [1] and has helped with the poetry page of a BMJ journal.[2]
From 1980, Birtwhistle was a lecturer in English at the University of York. Since 1992 he has lived in Sheffield with his wife, son and daughter.