Graham Austin does not have a degree from Ipswich. He was, in fact, a 'good honours' Durham graduate, although he considers himself to be one of the first to go to university who shouldn't have been allowed near the place. There have been, he says, many thousands like him since.

Rarely inspired by the physical environment, his poems are largely based on the attitudes and behaviour of people, real or imagined. Many of them seem oddly familiar, like family photographs taken by a distant cousin when no-one was aware of it. They capture the wry, wayward, poignant comedy of human existence in all its frailty. James Thurber would have recognised a soul-mate here.

Austin is a regular performer and attender at A Poem and a Pint events in Cumbria. He is also a founder-member of A Posse of Poets from Furness, a group of six retired professional men, all of whom write and perform their own poetry and have been published at some level. From this group a posse of three is always available. The posse performed at the Sedbergh Festival Fringe two years ago with distinction.

After retiring from Further and Higher Education, Austin lives with his wife in South Cumbria. They have four children, and ten grandchildren.

Publications

Fuelling Speculation, HappenStance, 2010

Self-publications (available from Sutton's Bookshop, Market Street, Ulverston, Cumbria) include:

• Verse tales from the Home for Historical Personages (2009) £5.00
• Considering Eliot's The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock (2009) £2.00
• Poetry for Blokes, Volumes 3-7 (2006-2010) £5.00
• The Poems of Augustus Snodgrass (2008) £2.00
• Poetry for Blokes, Volumes 1-2 (2005-2006) £4.00
• Not a Word and Other Aspirations (2004) £4.00
• Golden Boy and Me, Volumes 1 & 2 (illust.) (2004) £3.00 ea.
• The Joker Playing Card, its origins and development (illust.) (2005) £5.00