Richard Douglas Pennant was born in north Wales in 1955.
Although has written poetry since adolescence, it is only in the past few years that he has systematically applied himself to his creative passion. He draws much of his inspiration from his native Wales, from its tales and legends of the Celtic deities, as well as from the Hellenic history of ancient Greece and the richness of its myths and civilization. Human relationships, the power of love and friendship, all play a part in his writing.
Biography
Like most people, I started life at birth. In my case, I arrived at home in Bangor, Wales on the 19th February 1955, feet-first during a violent thunderstorm. This, my first destination, remains a place of constant inspiration for my writing. As a youth, I attended several schools in different parts of the British Isles and I credit the often difficult experiences of my school days as having instilled in me the deep yearning of an unsettled traveller, for home.
In 1976 while working for the Missions to Seamen in Cyprus, I married. Having chosen to raise two children in Limassol, my family and I have nonetheless spent regular periods of time at our second home in Bangor.
I think we can all look back on certain periods in our lives, which we regard as pivotal or watershed times, where the whole axis of our being seems to have changed. The years 1997-1998 were such a time for me. Having emerged from a kind of psychological deep-freeze, I began writing in earnest. Certain key individuals I had met offered me a whole new perspective on life. This represented a complete paradigm shift which opened a window onto a whole other world that I barely knew existed.
Although I have written poetry since adolescence, a systematic and mature approach to my creative passion arrived only later in life. Yet, I have always been inspired by my native soil, its rugged landscape and particularly the tales and legends of the Celtic deities. More recently, I draw inspiration from the Hellenic world and the richness of the myths and civilization of ancient Greece. I am a keen traveller, and find myself repeatedly drawn back to the Near East, whose ancient stone monuments are both beautiful and deeply moving, representing what I consider to be the universal aspirations and achievements of mankind. Human relationships, the power of love and friendship, and the beauty of the ordinary experiences of life, all play a part in my writing.
Since publishing my first collection of poems, Old Stones New Tales in 2004, I have been exploring the relationship between my poetry and a variety of musical genres in live performances and recordings. At my debut performance at the Weaving Mill in Nicosia, Cyprus, I gave a reading of poems accompanied by original music for clarinet quintet composed especially for the event by Andreas Moustoukis and Roland Melia. I have since performed in the UK, Cyprus, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Germany and China, where I have been joined by, among others, the Allegri, Danel and Brodsky string quartets, cellist Matthew Barley, violinist Darragh Morgan as well as the celebrated middle eastern musicians Ross Daly and Kelly Thoma on Cretan lyre and Abdullah Chhadeh on Qanun.
In recent performances in cooperation with Global Music Foundation I have shared the stage with jazz ensembles led by Garrison Fewell on guitar, Frank Harrison, jazz singer Tina May and Jamaican poet Yasus Afari.
I am currently working on performance skills with actor Robert Bowman and drummer Stephen Keogh.
