Tony Harrison author page

Tony Harrison biography

Tony Harrison is an English poet, playwright, translator and filmmaker, born in Beeston, Leeds in 1937. He attended Leeds Grammar School on a scholarship and studied Classics and Linguistics at the University of Leeds.

His first published poetry pamphlet was Earthworks (1964). His early work includes the collection The Loiners (1970), which won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize.

Harrison is well-known for the long poem “V” (1985), written during the miners’ strike, which describes visiting his parents’ grave in Leeds and addresses social decay and language. A filmed version was broadcast by Channel 4 in 1987, causing public controversy due to its use of profanity and strong language.

He has produced translations and adaptations of classical and medieval works, among them The Oresteia, Lysistrata, and The Mysteries, the latter performed by the Royal National Theatre in 1985.

Among his published poetry volumes are Continuous (1981), The Gaze of the Gorgon (1992) and Laureate’s Block (2000). His work for screen and film includes The Shadow of Hiroshima and Other Film/Poems (1995) and Black Daisies for the Bride.

Harrison has won many literary awards: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (1972), Whitbread Poetry Prize (1992) for The Gaze of the Gorgon, inaugural PEN/Pinter Prize (2009), European Prize for Literature (2010), David Cohen Prize (2015) and the Premio Feronia (2016).