About David Punter
I am a poet and writer based in Bristol, UK. I have had a long and varied career as an academic, working at universities in England, Scotland, China and Hong Kong (before Hong Kong became part of China!). During all this time, I have written, published and performed poetry, and am now able to devote my energies full-time to poetry.
Interests
As a poet, I am interested in politics and social issues, developing from such masters as W.H. Auden and Adrian Mitchell; but many of my poems add a surreal tinge to the everyday. I am also fascinated by the interplay between poetry and music, and was for a time engaged with two other poets, Gillie Harries and Tim Vosper, and a jazz duo, Jake’n’Charlie, in a venture called Echoes and Edges.
Publications and Performances
I have performed at venues in London (including the Barbican Centre), Norwich, York, Bristol, as well as Denmark and Hong Kong. I have recently been long-listed in the Poetry Society’s Annual Competition, and short-listed for the Brian Dempsey Memorial Prize. I have published in magazines such as PN Review, Ariel, Agenda and Encounter, and have also published nine poetry collections, the most recent, Ship’s Log, with Bristol Books. In this book I base some of my own poems on excerpts from the passenger records of the voyages of Brunel’s magnificent ship the SS Great Britain, in whose archives I have now been working for some time. It is available from this website or from Amazon at the price of £8.00; but there is also a version including a CD of 24 of the excerpts and poems, which costs £12.00.