Brian Bilston
BornPaul Millicheap
(1970-06-14) 14 June 1970
Birmingham, England
OccupationPoet, writer
Period2010s–present

Paul Millicheap (born 14 June 1970), who writes as Brian Bilston, is a British poet and author.

Born in Birmingham, he studied at the University of Wales, Swansea, before entering the publishing industry as a marketing manager, notably for John Wiley in Oxford.[1]

Using the pseudonym Brian Bilston, he began publishing short and pithy, often humorous, poems on Twitter, which were then spread widely on social media. Bilston gained up to 400,000 followers, and has been described as "The Poet Laureate of Twitter".[2][3] The poet Ian McMillan described him as "a laureate for our fractured times",[4] and he has been compared to Don Marquis, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash.[5]

He has published three collections of verse, You Took the Last Bus Home (2016); Alexa, what is there to know about love? (2021); and Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022). He has also written a book of football poems, 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021). His first novel, Diary of a Somebody (2019), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for First Novel, and his poem "Refugees" has been published as an illustrated book for children.[5][6] In 2023, he published a book of "seasonally adjusted poems", And So This Is Christmas.[7]

He has been called "the Banksy of the poetry world";[8] in publicity photographs promoting his speaking tours, he hides his face behind a book.[4]

Publications

  • You Took the Last Bus Home (2016)
  • Diary of a Somebody (2019)[9][10]
  • 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021)
  • Alexa, what is there to know about love? (2021)
  • Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022)
  • Refugees (2022, illustrated by José Sanabria)
  • And So This is Christmas (2023)

References

  1. ↑ Paul Millicheap, LinkedIn. Retrieved 15 December 2023
  2. ↑ Gilmartin, Sarah (6 April 2016). "Brian Bilston: the Poet Laureate of Twitter". Irish Times. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "'Poet laureate of Twitter' Brian Bilston: 'I'm still pretty shy and mostly unconfident'". iNews. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  4. 1 2 Greg Freeman, "Alexa, what's the latest about Brian Bilston, poet laureate of Twitter?", Write Out Loud, 14 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2023
  5. 1 2 Connie Cronley, "Light, Bright Verse", LIFE’s Vintage Newsmagazine, August 2022, p.32
  6. ↑ Brian Bilston, Bookshop.org. Retrieved 15 December 2023
  7. ↑ "Christmas", BrianBilston.com. Retrieved 15 December 2023
  8. ↑ "Brian Bilston, the mystery man of poetry, answers our questions", Pan Macmillan, 26 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2023
  9. ↑ Quinn, Anthony (13 June 2019). "Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston review – a mischievous comic debut". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
  10. ↑ Thomas-Corr, Johanna (21 July 2019). "Diary of a Somebody by Brian Bilston review – a spoof too far". The Observer. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
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