Adrian Mitchell (1932–) Biography

(Volcano Jones, Apeman Mudgeon, Gerald Stimpson)

Personal

Born 1932, in London, England; (second marriage) Sasha, Beattie. Education: Studied at Christ Church, Oxford. Politics: Pacifist. Religion: "The arts."

Addresses

Agent—c/o PFD, Drury House, 34-43 Russell St., London WC2B 5HA, England.

Career

Poet, playwright, and fiction writer. Oxford Mail, Oxford, England, former reporter; Evening Standard, London, England, reporter; freelance journalist; freelance writer, beginning mid-1960s. University of Iowa, instructor at writers' workshop, 1963–67; University of Lancaster, Granada fellow in the arts, 1967–69; Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, fellow, 1972; Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, Wales, resident writer, 1974–75; Billericay Comprehensive School, visiting writer, 1974–75; Cambridge University Judith E. Wilson fellow, 1980–81; Unicorn Theatre for Children, resident writer, 1982–83; Nayang University, Singapore, fellow in drama, 1995; Dylan Thomas fellow, Swansea, 1995. Military service: Royal Air Force, compulsory service, c. 1950.

Member

Royal Society of Literature (fellow).

Honors Awards

Eric Gregory Award, 1961; PEN Translation Prize (co-recipient), 1966, for Marat/Sade; Tokyo Festival television film award, 1971; Gold Medal of the Theatre of Poetry (Varna, Bulgaria); honorary doctorate, North London University, 1997; named Red Pepper magazine Shadow Poet laureate, 2002; Poetry Book Society Best Collection of Children's Poetry designation, 2004, and CLPE Poetry Award shortlist, 2005, both for Daft as a Doughnut.

Writings

FOR CHILDREN

Nothingmas Day, Allison & Busby (London, England), 1984.

The Baron Rides Out: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen as He Told Them to Adrian Mitchell, illustrated by Patrick Benson, Walker (London, England), 1985.

The Baron on the Island of Cheese: More Adventures of Baron Munchausen, illustrated by Patrick Benson, Walker (London, England), 1986.

The Baron All at Sea: More Adventures of Baron Munchausen, illustrated by Patrick Benson, Walker (London, England), 1987.

Our Mammoth, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont, Walker (London, England), 1987.

Our Mammoth Goes to School, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont, Walker (London, England), 1987.

Our Mammoth in the Snow, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont, Walker (London, England), 1987.

(Compiler) Strawberry Drums: A Book of Poems with a Beat for You and All Your Friends to Keep, illustrated by Frances Lloyd, Macdonald Children's (Hove, England), 1989, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1991.

All My Own Stuff (poems), illustrated by F. Lloyd, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

(Editor) The Orchard Book of Poems, Orchard Books (London, England), 1993.

(Compiler) The Thirteen Secrets of Poetry, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1993.

(Reteller) Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling, illustrated by Jonathan Heale, DK Publishing (London, England), 1994.

Gynormous!: The Ultimate Book of Giants, illustrated by Sally Gardner, Orion Children's Books (London, England), 1996.

Maudie and the Green Children, illustrated by Sigune Hamann, Tradewind, 1996.

(Reteller) Hans Christian Andersen, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, illustrated by Jonathan Heale, DK Publications (London, England), 1996.

Balloon Lagoon and Other Magic Islands of Poetry, illustrated by Tony Ross, Orchard Books (London, England), 1997.

(Reteller) The Adventures of Robin Hood and Marian, illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark, Orchard Books (London, England), 1998.

Twice My Size, illustrated by Daniel Pudles, Bloomsbury (London, England), 1998, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1999.

My Cat, Mrs Christmas, illustrated by Sophy Williams, Orion Children's Books (London, England), 1998.

Dancing in the Street: A Poetry Party, illustrated by Tony Ross, Orchard Books (London, England), 1999.

Daft as a Doughnut, illustrated by Tony Ross, Orchard Books (London, England), 1999.

(Reteller) The Odyssey, illustrated by Stuart Robertson, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

Nobody Rides the Unicorn, illustrated by Stephen Lambert, Arthur A. Levine Books (New York, NY), 2000.

(Reteller) The Snow Queen, illustrated by Nilesh Mistry, Dorling Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

(Selector) A Poem a Day, illustrations by Russell Ayto and others, Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

(With Daisy) Zoo of Dreams (poetry), Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

Poetry and lyrics recorded by Mitchell on The Dogfather, 57 Production (London, England), 2000; poems recorded for British Library Archives (London, England), 2005.

PLAYS; FOR CHILDREN

(Author of lyrics) George Orwell's Animal Farm (musical), adapted by Peter Hall, music by Richard Peaslee, Methuen (London, England), 1985.

(Adapter) The Pied Piper, Oberon (London, England), 1988.

(Adapter) The Wild Animal Song Contest; and, Mowgli's Jungle, introduction and activities by Alison Jenkins, Heinemann Educational (Oxford, England), 1993.

(Adapter) The Snow Queen, Oberon (London, England), 1998.

(Adapter) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (based on the novel by C.S. Lewis), Oberon (London, England), 1998.

Tom Kitten and His Friends (musical; based on the work of Beatrix Potter), music by Stephen McNuff, Samuel French (London, England), 1998.

The Mammoth Sails Tonight! (musical), music by Peter Moser, Oberon (London, England), 1999.

(Adapter) Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Oberon (London, England), 2001.

(Adapter) Vasilisa the Fair (based on The Frog Princess and Other Russian Folk Tales, by Sophia Prokofieva), Samuel French (New York, NY), 2003.

(Adapter) Two Beatrix Potter Plays: Jemima Puddle-Duck and Her Friends; Peter Rabbit and His Friends, Oberon (London, England), 2004.

Aladdin, produced in Belfast, Ireland, 2004.

Robin Hood and Marian (adapted from his children's book), produced in Troy, NY, 2005.

Also co-author, with Sasha Mitchell, of puppet-show adaptation of his children's book Nobody Rides the Unicorn, 2005. Author of puppet show Perseus and the Gorgon's Head, 2006.

POETRY; FOR ADULTS

[Poems] Fantasy Poets No. 24, Fantasy Press, 1955.

Poems, J. Cape (London, England), 1962.

Peace Is Milk, Housmans, 1966.

Out Loud, Cape Goliard (London, England), 1968, published as The Annotated Out Loud, Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative, 1976.

Ride the Nightmare: Verse and Prose, J. Cape (London, England), 1971.

(With John Fuller and Peter Levi) Penguin Modern Poets 22, Penguin (Harmondsworth, England), 1973.

The Apeman Cometh: Poems, J. Cape (London, England), 1975.

For Beauty Douglas: Collected Poems 1953–1979, pictures by Ralph Steadman, Allison & Busby (London, England), 1982.

On the Beach at Cambridge: New Poems, Allison & Busby (London, England), 1984.

(Editor with Leonie Kramer) The Oxford Anthology of Australian Literature, Oxford University Press (Oxford, England), 1985.

Love Songs of World War Three, Allison & Busby (London, England), 1989.

Adrian Mitchell's Greatest Hits: His Forty Golden Greats, Bloodaxe (Newcastle on Tyne, England), 1991.

Blue Coffee: Poems 1985–1996, Bloodaxe (Newcastle on Tyne, England), 1996.

Heart on the Left: Poems, 1953–1984, illustrated by Ralph Steadman, Bloodaxe (Newcastle on Tyne, England), 1997.

All Shook Up: Poems 1997–2000, Dufour Editions (Chester Springs, PA), 2000.

(Editor with Andy Croft) Red Sky at Night: An Anthology of British Socialist Poetry, Five Leaves, 2003.

The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000–2004, Bloodaxe (Tarset, Northumberland, England), 2004.

Poems recorded on Adrian Mitchell's Greatest Hits (with Peter Mosher).

PLAYS; FOR ADULTS

(Translator and verse adaptor, with Geoffrey Skelton) Peter Weiss, The Marat/Sade, adapted by Peter Brooks, Atheneum (New York, NY), 1966.

Tyger: A Celebration Based on the Life and Work of William Blake, J. Cape (London, England), 1971.

Man Friday, music by Mike Westbrook; Mind Your Head: A Return Trip with Songs, music by Andy Roberts, Methuen (London, England), 1974.

(Adapter) Pedro Calderon de la Barca, The Mayor of Zalamea; or, The Best Garrotting Ever Done, Salamander Press (Edinburgh, Scotland), 1981 published in Three Plays by Calderon: The Mayor of Zalamea, Life's a Dream, and The Great Theatre of the World, Oberon (London, England), 1998.

(Editor) Dylan Thomas, A Child's Christmas in Wales: Christmas Musical, adapted by Jeremy Brooks, Dramatic Publishing Company (London, England), 1984.

(With Berta Freistadt and Deborah Levy) Peace Plays, Methuen (London, England), 1988.

(Adapter) Lope de Vega, Fuente Ovejuna; Lost in a Mirror (It Serves Them Right), Aris & Phillips, 1989, published in Two Plays by Lope da Vega: Fuente Ovejuna and Lost in a Mirror, Oberon (London, England), 1998.

(Adapter) Nikolai V. Gogol, The Government Inspector, Methuen (London, England), 1989.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Dramatic Publishing Company (London, England), 1994.

(Adapter) Pedro Calderon de la Barca, The Great Theatre of the World, Dramatic Publishing (London, England), 1994 published in Three Plays by Calderon: The Mayor of Zalamea, Life's a Dream, and The Great Theatre of the World, Oberon (London, England), 1998.

(Editor) Pedro Calderon de la Barca, Life's a Dream, adapted by John Barton, Dramatic Publishing (London, England), 1994 published in Three Plays by Calderon: The Mayor of Zalamea, Life's a Dream, and The Great Theatre of the World, Oberon (London, England), 1998.

Plays with Songs: Tyger Two, Man Friday, Satie Day/Night, In the Unlikely Event of an Emergency, Oberon (London, England), 1996.

The Siege: A Play with Songs, music by Andrew Dickson, Oberon (London, England), 1996.

Also author of libretti for operas, including The Magic Flute, 1966, and Houdini, 1977, for Netherlands Opera.

NOVELS; FOR ADULTS

If You See Me Comin', Macmillan (New York, NY), 1962.

The Bodyguard, J. Cape (London, England), 1970, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1971.

Wartime, J. Cape (London, England), 1973, Doubleday (New York, NY), 1975.

OTHER

(Editor) Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965–1999, W.W. Norton (New York, NY), 2001, revised as Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics, 1965–2001, 2002.

Lyricist for play US, by Peter Brook. Translator and/or editor of various volumes of poems. Contributor of articles to the London Guardian, London Daily Mail, New York Times, New Statesman, Observer, Sunday Times, and Peace News, among other periodicals. Some works published under pseudonyms Volcano Jones, Apeman Mudgeon, and Gerald Stimpson.

Sidelights

British poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell gained notice in the 1960s as a performance poet whose works—including the verse collections Peace Is Milk and Out Loud and the plays Tyger: A Celebration Based on the Life and Work of William Blake, Mind Your Head, and Man Friday—resonate with pacifism and his belief in the empowerment of the common man amid the politicized artistic environment of the 1960s and 1970s. As Tony Silverman Zinman noted in the Dictionary of Literary Biography, all of Mitchell's works "express his idealistic socialism: his goal is not only to right the world's wrongs but also to establish contact with mass audiences." As Mitchell himself has said, "Most people ignore most poetry because most poetry ignores most people."

Increasingly, Mitchell's artistic efforts have turned toward children's literature, and specifically to drama, where his produced works include The Pied Piper, an adaptation of C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, Aladdin, and The Snow Queen. As Mitchell explained to John-Paul Flintoff in the London Financial Times, he prefers writing plays for young people because "you get an audience without any theory or prejudice. And they're very easily bored, which they will show immediately. If they're hitting each other you know that part of the play needs fixing." Mitchell has also written volumes of poetry for young readers, has edited volumes of poetry, and has written several picture-book series, one about a prehistoric mammoth that shows up in the modern world and another retelling the adventures of German storyteller Baron Munchausen.

Mitchell was born in 1932 in London, the son of a research chemist and a teacher. Educated at Dauntsey's School in Wiltshire, he did one year of compulsory national service in the Royal Air Force before entering Christ Church, Oxford in 1952. At Oxford Mitchell originally planned to train as a teacher, he became heavily influenced by poets such as Alistair Elliott and during his third and last year there was literary editor of Isis magazine. An early pamphlet of Mitchell's poems appearing in 1955 and included "The Fox," a poem considered one of his best works. Mitchell was strongly influenced by nineteenth-century British poet William Blake, and eventually wrote a play about Blake's life.

After leaving Oxford, earning a living became paramount in Mitchell's life. He first found work as a reporter on the Oxford Mail and after a few years he moved to the London Evening Standard. Mitchell also wrote television and music reviews for other magazines and newspapers, all the while gaining a reputation for his poetry through readings and published poems. In his 1975 volume of poems, titled The Apeman Cometh, Mitchell first displayed his talent for writing for a youthful audience, including a section of fifteen poems headed "Mainly for Kids."

Mitchell's first volume of poetry for children, Nothingmas Day, appeared in 1984. Margery Fisher, writing in Growing Point, called these poems "entertaining verbal fireworks" that include puns, assonances, comic arrangement of lines and "inspired gobbledegook" such as the opening line from "My Last Nature Walk": "I strode among the clumihacken." In her review, Fisher concluded that Mitchell's work contains "space for the melancholy beneath nonsense, for innumerable individual reactions to ordinary matters." A Junior Bookshelf reviewer also praised Nothingmas Day, observing that Mitchell's poems have "that turn of phrase, that startling thought, that seductive sound … so attractive to the young child," and deeming the collection "a joy to handle, a delight to read, and a pleasure to look at."

In All My Own Stuff Mitchell assembles twenty-five poems "showing a variety of tones and moods," according to a writer in Junior Bookshelf, the critic adding that "the poetry is full of plays on words." Jocelyn Hanson commented in School Librarian that Mitchell's second collection for young readers ranges from "the silly to the profound," including "funny little verses and couplets, clever and amusing, quick to read and assimilate," and that "all demonstrate a love of the sound and shape of words." The poet's trademark playfulness can be found in lines such as "I am Boj/Organised Sludge and a Thunder-Wedge." Hanson concluded that All My Own Stuff "would be useful in demonstrating to children … how freely words can be used, manipulated and played with within the structures of poetry."

In addition to publishing his own poetry, Mitchell has collected and edited several poetry anthologies, among them Strawberry Drums, the teen poetry anthology Dancing in the Street, and The Orchard Book of Poems. Strawberry Drums was praised as "an engrossing and readable collection of poems" by a critic in Junior Bookshelf. In this work Mitchell collects poems from around the world, the poets included ranging from well-known British poets William Blake and Robert Graves to lyricists and former Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon to writings from the Navajo of the American Southwest, the Jakun of Malaysia. The Junior Bookshelf reviewer concluded that Mitchell's anthology projects "a freshness that is captivating," making it "a bubbly, effervescent anthology with golden oldies and new poems side by side." Jane Marino, writing in School Library Journal, found the collection to be a "far-flung, eclectic group of thirty poems that invites readers to celebrate words," while Pippa Rann called Strawberry Drums a "pleasingly varied collection," in School Librarian. Writing in the introduction to the volume, Mitchell commented: "I chose the poems … because they are bright and sweet like strawberries. And all of them have a beat—like drums." Rann noted in School Librarian that a central strength of the book is this introduction, in which Mitchell demonstrates for readers how to go about writing a poem.

The Orchard Book of Poems, a "fresh and beautifully produced collection," according to Pam Harwood in Books for Keeps, compiles poets ranging from John Keats to John Lennon, and organizes verses into sections such as "The Palace of People" and "The Dazzling City." Harwood called the anthology a "courageous blending of old favourites and new faces."

Mitchell's inventive word play and sense of the fantastic have also been channeled into picture books. In the "Baron" series, he adapts the tall tales about real-life eighteenth-century German adventurer Baron Munchausen, whose exploits were fictionalized by R.E. Raspe, to create his own version of events. The Baron Rides Out, which commenced the series, tells of the baron's forty-eight brothers and sisters, his magical horse, and his ship, which is drawn by seagulls. "Nobody need believe any of this," observed a reviewer for Junior Bookshelf, "but the stories are so fantastic that they are fun. Children accept them for what they are and enjoy them." Kenneth Marantz, writing in School Library Journal, concluded that, "for those who enjoy … [American folk hero] Paul Bunyan, this German teller of tall tales will be a special delight."

The Baron on the Island of Cheese provides "another series of ebullient adventures," according to a Kirkus Reviews critic, who concluded: "Mitchell embellishes the nonstop action with delicious asides. This may be the 18th-century verbal equivalent of the Saturday morning cartoons, but it's still fun." Reviewing this second title in the series, Constance A. Mellon noted in School Library Journal that "the book is clever, written in the clipped style typical of British humor." Mellon concluded that the book "would be a good extension of the folklore area, and, properly presented, would be of both literary and artistic value to children." Reviewing the third series installment, The Baron All at Sea, Nancy Palmer commented in School Library Journal that "Mitchell has cleaned up the original stories without sanitizing them; plenty of action remains, and nothing feels sapped or bowdlerized." In The Baron All at Sea the baron heroically attempts to help a choir of 1,000 Africans return to Timbuktu, a feat that involves a ship-wreck and confrontations with wolves and polar bears. "This will be a title of choice for check-out and for reading aloud," Palmer concluded.

Mitchell's second series of picture books includes Our Mammoth, Our Mammoth Goes to School, and Our Mammoth in the Snow. The Gumble twins are at the beach one day when a giant block of ice is washed ashore. As the ice melts, they discover that there is a mammoth inside. Awaking from its long deep-freeze, the mammoth becomes a giant, shaggy means of transport for the twins, carrying them to their house. The twins' unflappable mother accepts the beast into the household, preparing a buttercup pie for its sustenance. A Publishers Weekly critic noted that Our Mammoth "is both quirky and intriguing," and that "Mitchell's eloquent prose accentuates the story's deadpan humor."

The twins take their mastodon friend with them to school in Our Mammoth Goes to School. At first, the animal has a hard time, and is disliked by the headmaster because of its fleas, but soon the mammoth joins in a school outing and discovers kindred spirits in the elephants at the zoo. "This is another successful example of that familiar genre of the picture book, depicting the appearance of a monstrous monster who eventually becomes everybody's friend," observed William Edmonds in School Librarian. Margery Fisher maintained in Growing Point that Our Mammoth Goes to School pairs an "idiosyncratic text with explosive words and onomatopoeic phrases."

Among Mitchell's many books for children are retellings of stories by Hans Christian Andersen, such as The Ugly Duckling and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. Reviewing The Ugly Duckling for School Librarian, Jane Doonan declared, "Here's the art of the backward glance, in a handsome new edition of the old classic…. Mitchell's poetic retelling retains the sensuous quality of the original descriptions." Writing of The Steadfast Tin Soldier in the same periodical, Doonan noted that Mitchell retains the original intent of the noted Danish author while simplifying the text. "This is an illustrated book which could take today's children into a very different world," Doonan concluded, "although the theme, exploring the vulnerability of anyone who steadfastly loves another, is timeless." Janice M. Del Negro commented in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that The Steadfast Tin Soldier "is a remarkably readable interpretation of Andersen's tragic fairy tale," and concluded: "It's sometimes difficult to make a case for yet another picture-book version of an often-retold fairy tale, but this unique interpretation is its own convincing argument."

Mitchell's imaginative flights have also take him to Sherwood Forest for Adventures of Robin Hood and Marian, as well as back in time to the ancient world for The Odyssey, a "smoothly written" version of the an-cient story according to School Library Journal contributor Nancy Call. They have also inspired the poetry/short-story compilation on giants titled Gynormous! as well as the collection Daft as a Doughnut, which was selected the best collection of children's poetry of 2004 by the Poetry Book Society. Another imaginative flight by Mitchell was recognized by the people voting in the 2004 National Poetry Day poll, which ranked the poet's "Human Beings" as the poem fans would most like to see launched into space as a way of communicating with other forms of life. A poem encouraging cultural tolerance and peace, "Human Beings" appeared in Mitchell's collection The Shadow Knows: Poems 2000–2004 as well as being displayed at England's National Space Centre.

Whatever form Mitchell's work takes, be it poetry, drama, prose, or interstellar transmission, he retains his original conviction in the transformational power of words. His writing for children has been characterized as unpretentious and simple, and his empathy with young readers is apparent. For Mitchell, poetry and words are not just means of communication; they can change a reader's perception of the world.