MATTHEW HOLLIS was born in Norwich in 1971. Ground Water (Bloodaxe, 2004) was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread Prize for Poetry and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. He is co-editor of Strong Words: Modern Poets on Modern Poetry (Bloodaxe, 2000) and 101 Poems Against War (Faber, 2003), and editor of Selected Poems of Edward Thomas (Faber, 2011). Now All Roads Lead to France: the Last Years of Edward Thomas (Faber, 2011; Norton, 2012) won the Costa Biography Award and the H. W. Fisher Biography Prize and was Sunday Times Biography of the Year.
‘Hollis writes a knowing, lyrical poetry set against a landscape of big skies and battened-down horizons. He combines worldly wisdom with more detailed, vernacular understanding to produce poems that speak with a sense of purpose and place.’
Simon Armitage
Forthcoming Events + News
Sunday 26 May 2013, 8pm
DUBLIN, Writers Festival, Smock Alley Theatre
Dennis O’Driscoll: A Celebration
with Seamus Heaney and Michael HofmannDetails: tel +353 (0) 1 222 5455
info@dublinwritersfestival.com
http://www.dublinwritersfestival.com
Wednesday 15 May 2013, 7.30pm
LONDON, Bush Theatre Library, Shepherd’s Bush
Poetry in the Library
with Jo ShapcottDetails: tel 020 8743 5050
miranda_alexander@ymail.com
http://www.bushtheatre.co.uk/book/poetry_in_the_library
Wednesday 8 May 2013, 6.45pm
CAMBRIDGE, Fitzwilliam Museum
Thresholds: a poetry reading with Sean Borodale, Gillian Clarke, Imtiaz Dharker, Ann Gray, Jackie Kay, Daljit Nagra, Don Paterson and Jo Shapcott, hosted by Carol Ann DuffyDetails: by invitation
http://www.thresholds.org.uk
Thursday 25 April 2013, 6.30pm
CAMBRIDGE, Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences
Thresholds: a poetry readingDetails: tel 01223 333456
as356@cam.ac.uk
http://www.thresholds.org.uk
New poem broadcast on The Echo Chamber
‘Wastwater’ has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4’s The Echo Chamber, 17 March 2013.
To listen to the broadcast, click here.
Thresholds: Poets in residence at the University of Cambridge museums and collections
At the invitation of Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Thresholds hosts ten UK poets in the museums and collections of Cambridge University.
Matthew will spend two weeks in residence at The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, 18-22 March and 22-6 April 2013.
For further details click here.
River Thames article published in New Statesman
‘Secrets of a River’ has been published in New Statesman, 26 July 2012.
Now All Roads Lead to France shortlisted for Spear's Book Awards
Now All Roads Lead to France has been shortlisted for the Spear’s Book Award for Biography. For details click here.
Society of Authors' Travelling Scholarship
Matthew has been awarded a Traveling Scholarship from the Society of Authors. For details click here.
Now All Roads Lead to France shortlisted for IBW Book Award
Now All Roads Lead to France has been shortlisted for the IBW Book Award. For details click here.
W. W. Norton
W. W. Norton will publish Now All Roads Lead to France in the United States on 22 October. For details click here.
New films by the Guardian
Sarah Crown joins Matthew for a walk around Edward Thomas’s Hampshire and for a reading from Now All Roads Lead to France in Cameron Robertson’s two films for the Guardian.
Now All Roads Lead to France wins Costa Biography Award
NOW ALL ROADS LEAD TO FRANCE: The Last Years of Edward Thomas has won the Costa Biography Award. For details click here
New poem published in New Statesman
‘The Staithe’ has been published in New Statesman, 12 December 2011
Now All Roads Lead to France wins H. W. Fisher Biography Prize
NOW ALL ROADS LEAD TO FRANCE: The Last Years of Edward Thomas has won the Biographers’ Club H. W. Fisher Best First Biography Award. For details click here
BBC Radio 4, Book of the Week, 15-19 August 2011, 9.45am
Read by Tobias Menzies
Abridged by Richard Hamilton
Produced by Emma HardingTo listen to the broadcast, click here
Publication, 4 August 2011
NOW ALL ROADS LEAD TO FRANCE: The Last Years of Edward Thomas, a biography by Matthew, is published by Faber and Faber on 4 August 2011 simultaneously with his edition of Thomas’s SELECTED POEMS.
Read Matthew’s specially commissioned pieces on the friendship of Edward Thomas and Robert Frost for the Guardian, and on the composition of Thomas’s poem ‘Adlestrop’ in the New Statesman.
Download the Faber podcast and watch Matthew talking about the book here.
Matthew Hollis on Now All Roads Lead to France from FaberBooks on Vimeo.
Read the first reviews: Sunday Telegraph, Independent, Financial Times, Daily Mail, Guardian, Independent (Selected Poems), New Statesman, Literary Review, Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Daily Telegraph and Guardian (Selected Poems), Herald and Spectator. A summary of comments by the Sunday Times, Independent and Mail on Sunday appears here. Commenteries on Thomas appear in the Irish Independent and Independent.
Now All Roads Lead to France has been recognised with a Royal Society of Literature Jerwood Award for Non-Fiction.
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The Poetry Archive
Matthew’s recording of Ground Water for The Poetry Archive is now available on CD and online. To visit the Archive click here, or to purchase the CD click here.