List Of Writers

RAYMOND, GARY

Website: www.garyraymond.co.uk

Gary was born and bred in Newport, studied English and History in Bath Spa, a time that was sandwiched between an aborted Classics degree in Lampeter, travels around North America where he exorcised all of his Beat demons (as he believes all young men should do before they "settle down to Robert Lowell, Saul Bellow, hand rolled cigarettes and wine that tastes better by the bottle") and a stint living in the Welsh capital. After a time spent trying to write a play, a novel and a memoir living in a peasant village in Cyprus Gary returned to Newport where he still lives.

Gary considers himself primarily a poet. This is due in part to the fact that he tries to bring to his prose fiction writing the same discipline and pregnancy of thought that he does to his poetry. He thrives on ideas for his works and is a strong believer in pushing himself into fields of literature that would not be obvious to him to try at first - hence on Gary’s website you can see examples of children’s parables, horror, fantasy, historical fiction, character study, experimental realism etc. He thinks, on the whole, that they fail in their quests, but they are honest efforts at stretching his capabilities as an artist.

Gary has written as a columnist for CFUK since the first issue nearly three years ago, and non-fiction work is something he enjoys and thinks he as grown into.

It has been some time since Gary performed literature but he was once a regular poet on Welsh and English circuits (and once performed, bizarrely, two poems live on Radio Sacramento). Gary has performed at the last two Hay-on-Wye Festivals in very good company.

Currently Gary is working on several new short stories with a view to publishing a collection rather than concentrating on the novel.

Selected Publications:

Poetry in journals:
The Argotist – Oct, 2006 – “At the Fireplace”
Cadenza – Issue 16, 2006 – “The Only Letter”
Carnelian – Volume 6.2, 2006 – “So Here We Are Again”
CFUK – Issue 1, 2005 – “Tumbleweed”, “Let The Grass Grow Tall (Sunday Song)”
CFUK – Issue 6, 2006 – “The Summer Tower”, “The Librarian”
Gold Dust Magazine – Issue 6, 2006 – “So Here We Are Again”, “The Waiting Room”
Parameter Magazine – Issue 3, 2006 – “The Cherry Blossom Tree”, Some Deny Your Death”
Pulsar – Issue 46, 2006 – “Ants”
The Ugly Tree – Issue 14 – “Two Brothers”, “God Knows We Shouldn’t Be Here”

Fiction in journals:
The Beat – Dec, 2006 – “A Day in the Life of Dermot”
Blue Tatoo - July, 2007 - "The Trials of Laura Baines"
Pan - August, 2007 - "Notes for a Novel About Chaos"

Theatre:
“Kyir Banog” – Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, September, 2003