Brian Patten

Brian

Patten ‘gave up the day job’ when he was 18 and for a while lived rough in Paris, paying his way by writing poems in coloured chalk on the pavements beside the city’s pavement artists. His first solo collection was Little Johnny's Confessions, published the same year as The Mersey Sound (1967), when he was twenty-one years old. Penguin publish Brian’s Selected Poems and Harper Perennial publish one of his most important books, The Collected Love Poems. His latest book for children was Monster Slayer, a simplified version of Beowulf, with illustrations by Chris Riddell, published in 2016.

He writes for both adults and children and his books have been translated into many European language. An accomplished performer, he has performed his work in venues as varied as The Islamic Students Union in Khartoum, Liverpool’s Cavern, and the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank.

Brian's latest collection of poetry The Book Of Upside Down Thinking was written in Morocco and inspired by 11th century Eastern folk stories, this collection of witty, wise rhymes rattles the cage of conventional thinking by showing the world from a different perspective.

He has been honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and of both Liverpool University and John Moores University.