Biography

Mervyn Linford has been writing poetry for more than three decades. He has won, been runner-up and highly commended in a number of national and local poetry competitions including: The Hastings Open Poetry Competition, The John Clare Cup and The Douglas Gibson Memorial Poetry Competition. His work has been published in numerous magazines and periodicals such as: Acumen, Outposts, Orbis, Staple, Weyfarers, Sol, Smiths Knoll, Seam, Romantic Renaissance, The Poet Tree, A Bard Hair Day, ImageNation, Earth Love, Peace and Freedom, Candelabrum, Iota, Rubies in the Darkness, The Essex Countryside Magazine, PN Review, The London Magazine, The Countryman, The Independent Newspaper, and many more. His work has also been broadcast on both local and national radio. He has been a member of the Southend Poetry Group for over twenty years and regularly gives public readings of his work. He has judged poetry competitions before and has just been asked to join a panel of three poets to adjudicate a national poetry competition for the Lions and was the editor of Littoral magazine. Of his seven published collections of poetry two are now out of print: Two Essex Poets - with Frederic Vanson - and Talking to the Bees; both published by The Brentham Press of St Albans. Of Two Essex Poets it was said: 'Linford is a man with a notebook out in the landscape of Essex……. I thoroughly enjoyed all his poems and look forward to his next collection. Two Essex Poets is definitely a book to treasure.' Angela Topping - ORE. Michael Schmidt said of Talking to the Bees: 'I think it rather remarkable that, given the quality of the work, you have not yet found a publisher. I should imagine that one of the other smaller presses or indeed one of the larger commercial houses will, in the near future, succumb to your work. I certainly hope so.' Carcanet - 1992. He has several collections of poetry available for purchase at the present time: see the Littoral Press catalogue page. Autumn Manuscript - a collection of 48 poems concerning themselves with the nature, people, landscapes and seascapes of Essex. Of this collection it was said: 'Linford is a craftsman of the finest sort. He carves meaning and metaphor, observation and emotion, into dynamic shapes - leaving no unpolished images.' Hilary Mellon - SOL. His collection The Beatitudes of Silence is a spiritual journey through the seasons, comprising 64 poems written entirely in a sonnet form he devised for himself. He uses pararhyme and enjambment so as to keep an underlying structure to the poems without the rhymes and the rhythms becoming to obvious and predictable. Of this collection it was said: 'There are some lovely and fully achieved poems here.' Harry Chambers - Peterloo Poets.