About the poet
Larry Butler was born in Illinois and grew up in California. He has written poetry since he first began to read at the age of 18 - up till then he drifted through school, cheating to get by. After learning to read, his first writing was slogans and protest songs for the civil rights and peace movement. Years later, while working in London as a dramatherapist in a learning disability centre, he discovered that he was (and still is) dyslexic. He has recently been diagnosed as having Attention Deficiency Disorder (ADD) - another useless label, and yet has managed to sit on a few committees, organise a trade union for adventure playground leaders, train as a teacher and visual artist, work as a potter, teach communication skills to doctors and heroin addicts and edit a civil liberties magazine and a poetry anthology.
His publications include 'Games Games', a set of illustrated cards with a creative game on each, a chapter in 'Creative Therapy' edited by Sue Jennings, and 'Beowulf', a verse script for the National Theatre. Poetry collections include 'Yuga Night' and 'Vegetable Talk' with Gerry Loose and Caith Sweeny McGee. He collaborated with Graham Harthill in setting up the Poetry Healing Project, then inspired by Survivors' Poetry, he developed Survivors' Poetry Scotland, which led to the development of Lapidus - the association for literature and personal development. His current project is 'A Place Where Thought Happens' - a collaboration with visual artist Brigid Collins, jeweller Teena Ramsey and architect Tom Morton. |