George Szirtes was born in Budapest
in 1948 and came to England as a refugee in 1956. He was brought up in
London and studied Fine Art in London and Leeds. His poems began appearing
in national magazines in 1973 and his first book, The Slant Door, was
published in 1979. It won the Faber Memorial prize the following year.
By this time he was married with two children. After the publication of his second book, November and May, 1982, he was invited to become a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Since then he has published several books and won various other prizes including the T S Eliot Prize for Reel in 2005.
Having returned to his birthplace, Budapest, for the
first time in 1984, he has also worked extensively as a translator of
poems, novels, plays and essays and has won various prizes and awards
in this sphere. His own work has been translated into numerous languages.
Beside his work in poetry and translation he has written
Exercise of Power, a study of the artist Ana Maria Pacheco, and, together
with Penelope Lively, edited New Writing 10 published by Picador in 2001.
George Szirtes lives near Norwich with his wife, the
painter Clarissa Upchurch to whose website this is linked.
Together they ran The Starwheel Press. Corvina has recently produced Budapest: Image, Poem, Film, their collaboration in poetry and visual work.
There is a variety of old and new poems to be found on this site. Apart from the regularly replaced poem on the home page, there is a regularly maintained Blog in the News section, and some stray notes and photographs in Notes. Poems and excerpts from published books (as well as selected reviews) may be located by clicking on specific books in the Books section. There is also an audio sample available among the Links.
Contact details
Email: georgeszirtes@googlemail.com
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