Watership Down – Richard Adams
The first big book I read as a child. Read it many times since and it still resonates, more now that I’m adult and understand the impact we have on the planet.
Philip Larkin
One of the greatest poets in the English Language. Technically perfect, humorous and profoundly human.
Thomas Hardy
His poetry is so different to other late Victorian writers and he has such a modern sentiment. Definitely one to read for any aspiring poet. ‘The Going’ is beautiful work.
Andrea Camilleri
He writes the Montalbano detective novels set in Sicily. I’ve read nearly all of them and they are great light reading material.
Robert Frost
Not just a poet of roads and farms, but of philosophy and what it means to live in the world. I challenge anyone to find better poems than ‘Desert Places’ and ‘The Onset’.
Colin Bancroft is a poet from the North of England. He was the winner of the 2016 poets and players prize and his poetry has appeared in numerous journals and magazines. He is currently finishing off his PhD on The Eco-poetics of Robert Frost.