JAMES SUTHERLAND-SMITH
POET, TRANSLATOR, CRITIC

I am a poet and the best thing I do is to write poems. My life has been shaped by this continuous act of self-knowledge or self-delusion. Decisions about earning my living, where I live and, when I was younger, whom I took to bed have always the fatal sentence, "I am a poet" murmuring in the background; an angelic chiming, a serpent's hiss, a madman's mutter, a statement of destiny or Sam's stubborn refusal to pick up his musket. I would prefer it to be the last of these. For one thing I detest authority when it lays claim to power, truth and obedience by virtue of being merely authority. This does not mean that I have set my face against canons of poems and poets, but I feel that contemporary poetry lacks critical principles and that there is frequent recourse to argumentum ad verecundiam in terms of temporary reputation and the venerability of certain academic literary critics, who have ceased to read poems with proper attention.

Being a poet may have coincided with an unsettled childhood and adolescence. I was brought up mostly abroad until my parents sent me to prep school at the age of nine. Almost by accident I took the 11-plus rather than Common Entrance. This saved me from the consequences of my father's extreme fecklessness as my secondary education was at a state grammar school. It would be a half-truth to say that the deprivation he caused has made me more sympathetic to other people, more alert to matters of justice. Perhaps if he had made anything of the opportunities he was given I might have led another life, but I think that Peter Porter has written the poem best describing the illusory nature of might-have-been lives. What I can say is that my father's only permanent gift was a wound or rather a psychological vacancy, after disappearing in vaudeville fashion. He vanished owing debts to everybody, debts which eventually included the knowledge of the manner, whereabouts and time of his death. It is difficult for a man to believe in death until his father dies.

For a time I thought I might be a chip off the old block. At Leeds University I was encouraged to write poetry although I read Political Studies. I refused the suggestion that I might pursue an academic career and worked firstly with homeless people in London and then, after falling in love, I spent a disastrous year as an articled clerk with a firm of accountants and lost my first love. This confirmed in me the desire to place poetry first and so therafter earning a living has been secondary to this ambition. I qualified as a teacher and then moved into language teaching. The 1970's otherwise passed in a pleasurable blur of what was available in that decade besides writing, love affairs, dabbling in the occult and frequent changes in residence.

In 1980 I left Britain, for good as it turned out, partly impelled by an income tax debt, but mostly because I wished to travel. I worked in Libya, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. On leave among other places I travelled to Egypt, India, the Caribbean, the USA and Central America, In 1988 sensing the gradual professionalisation of my particular genre of teaching I took a Master's degree in TEFL and in the autumn of 1989 took a lector's job with through the British Council in the then Czechoslovakia. I count myself lucky. In the Arab world I had made strenuous efforts to engage with Islamic culture, although a long love affair with an Egyptian girl may not have been the steadiest route, and failed. I arrived in the Slovak part of Czechoslovakia six weeks before the Velvet Revolution and found myself playing a small part in the centre of events. Until that time I had never lived anywhere for longer than six years. I am still resident in Slovakia and have gained a strong measure of personal stability from my Slovak wife, Viera, and daughter, Kate.

CURRICULUM VITAE

JAMES SUTHERLAND-SMITH

Born 1948 Aberdeen, Great Britain.
Married to Viera Schlosserová with one daughter, Katarína

Addresses:
(Office) British Council, Terazije 8/1 11 000 BELGRADE Serbia
Tele: (+381) 3023 823 or 2351 641
Fax: (+381) 3023 898
Mobile: (+381 63 626 645)

(Home) Matušá Trenčianského 4, 080 04 PREŠOV, Slovak Republic




EDUCATION

1988 - 1989 University of East Anglia - School of Modern European History and Foreign Languages. Gained M.A. in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.

1973 - 1974 Matlock College of Higher Education - Nottingham University. Gained Postgraduate Certificate of Education to teach English and History.

1968 - 1971 Leeds University - School of Economics and Social Sciences. Gained B.A. Honours (Class 2 Division 1) in Political Studies

Other Courses of Relevance:
inlingua School of Languages Training Course, April 1976
Studia Academica Slovaca (SAS), August 1991 Course in Slovak language and culture.
British Council in-house course on Communication Skills:
"Six Category Intervention", February 1994
British Council Customer Care course 2000
British Council Recruitment Training Course
Registered as Oral Examiner with the UCLES
Course in Serbian in Belgrade 2004

EMPLOYMENT

2002 to present Peacekeeping English Project Manager, Serbia and Montenegro to the Serbian and Montenegrin Armed Forces (SMAF)

1999 - 2002 British Council English Language Consultant, East Slovakia

1995- 1999 British Council In-service Teacher Trainer for East Slovakia at
Metodické Centrum, Prešov

1989 - 1995 British Council Senior Lecturer in English at the Philosophical Faculty in PJ Šafarík University, Prešov.
Responsible for teaching Methodology and supervising English language teaching practice.
1986 - 1988 Head of English Language Teaching Unit in the Qatar Public Telecommunications Corporation (formerly Qatar National Telephone Service) Doha, Qatar.

1982 - 1986 Instructor in English Language and Deputy Head of Education in the National Guard Training Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for Cable and Wireless PLC (SANGCOM Project)

1980 - 1982 Instructor in English Language for National Oil Refining Corporation, Azzawiya, Libya (SPLAJ)

1977 - 1980 Teacher of English as a Foreign Language also Financial Controller and Director of Intensive Summer Programme for inlingua School of Languages, London.

1976 - 1977 Teacher of English, Jizan Secondary School Saudi Arabia.

1976 - 1976 Teacher of English as a Foreign Language, inlingua School of Languages, London.

1974 - 1976 Teacher at Priory Road Church of England Middle School, Wimbledon, London

1972 - 1973 Articled Clerk in accountancy, WH Barnes and Co. (now Barnes Roffe) London.

1971 - 1972 Voluntary Social Worker, Simon Community, London

SELECTED EMPLOYMENT ACHIEVEMENTS

2005 Organising this year's Peacekeeping English Project Managers' Annual Conference in Belgrade will bring together Managers from 30 countries in projects based as far apart as Angola and Mongolia, Sri Lanka and the Czech Republic indicating increased confidence by the British government in Serbia?s progress to a democratic society.

2004 Organised the first International Summer school for teachers of English at the Military Academy, Belgrade including teachers from twelve countries from the Central Asian and Central and East European region

2002 to Present Advised SMAF on the modernising of its English language training and created links with other countries following over ten years of isolation

2000 -2002 Creative Writing Project, the first of its kind in Central Europe including Summer Schools for teachers of English, Handbooks of Creative Writing, Workshops in schools, Poetry and fiction competitions for young writers and teacher training. The project was based in Slovakia, but its outreach included Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Switzerland

February 2000
Symposium on Creative Writing in Language learning at Budmerice Writers' Castle for explore Creative Writing ideas and investigate a Central European project for Writers in Schools

December 1999
Authored survey and report on British Studies in Slovak Secondary schools

MEMBERSHIP OF SOCIETIES AND ORGANISATIONS

Society of Authors
Association of Translators

PUBLICATIONS

BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS
Four Poetry and Audience Poets P&A, Leeds 1971
A Poetry Quintet Gollancz, London 1976
The Death of Orpheus Words Etc., London 1976
Trapped Water Earthgrip, London 1977
Death of a Vixen Many Press, London 1978
A Singer from Sabiya Many Press, London 1979
Naming of the Arrow Salamander Imprint, London 1981
The Country of Rumour Many Press, London 1985
At the Skin Resort Arc Publications, Todmorden 1999
In the Country of Birds Carcanet. Manchester 2003

TRANSLATIONS (with Viera Sutherland-Smith except where stated)
Not Waiting for Miracles Modrý Peter, Levoca 1993
with Štefánia Allen and V S-S)
Slovensky balady Pavian Records, Bratislava 1995
(with Zuzanna Homolová)
Swallowing a Hair
Poems by Ján Ondruš Studna Bratislava 1998
(with Martin Solotruk)
An Album of Slovak Writers Bratislava 2000
100 Years of Slovak Literature Bratislava/Slovenia 2000
Cranberries in Ice:
Selected Poems of Ivan Laučík Modrý Peter Canada 2001
The Melancholy Hunter:
Selected Poems of Ján Buzassy Modrý Peter. Canada 2001
Scent of the Unseen
Selected Poems of Mila Haugová Arc Publications Todmorden 2002
An Album of Slovak Writers II Bratislava 2002
An Album of Slovak Writers III Bratislava 2004

ANTHOLOGIES
Universities Poetry 9 Exeter 1970
21 Years of Poetry and Audience Leeds 1977
A Thursday Evening Anthology Salamander Imprint London 1978
Perspectives in Landscape London 1978
New Poetry 5 London 1979
New Poetry 8 London 1982
New Poetry 9 London 1983
Klaonica Bloodaxe, Newcastle 1993
Riding Pillion Huddersfield 1994
The Bridport Prize Bridport 1996
Exeter Poetry Prize Exeter 1996
Exeter Poetry Prize Exeter 1997
The Bridport Prize Bridport 1998
The New Exeter Book of Riddles, Enitharmon London 1999
New Poetries II Carcanet Manchester 2002

MAGAZINES AND BROACASTS
Poems have appeared in the following British magazines among others; Acumen, Ambit, Cyphers, Encounter, The Honest Ulsterman, Lines, London Magazine, the North, PN Review, Poetry Durham, Poetry Review, Poetry Wales, Rialto, Stand, Thumbscrew.
over forty American magazines published poems (mostly in the 1980's) including
Chelsea, Confrontation, Cumberland Poetry Review, Graham House Review, Kansas Quarterly, Kayak, Laurel Review, Literary Review, Minnesota Review, Negative Capability, Oxford Magazine, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, San Jose Studies, West Branch
In Slovakia Literarnýennik, Svetovej Literatura and Kulturný have published poems. A cassette of Tyždenník 1992 Levoča Poets' Conference, "Iluzie" (Modrý Peter) included work by JS-S.
Regular reviews of poetry publications appear in PN Review plus an occasional "Letter from ..." Elsewhere articles on literature have appeared in Poetry Review in Britain ("Being There" - on the experience of being an ex-patriate poet, "As Lennon Says" - on Slovak poetry during the Velvet Revolution, "Pulling Up a Drowned Idea" - Review of the "Child Of Europe" Penguin Anthology of Contemporary Eastern European Poetry) Swansea Review on the poetry of John Welch
in Slovensk?ady ("Last Year's Bikinis" A Survey of Contemporary British Poetry) and Literarný Tyždenník in Slovakia ("Just One Question")
and on life in San Jose Studies in America ("Living and Working in Libya", "A Train Journey to Bratislava" - An Account of the Velvet Revolution).
Regular translations of poetry and prose with occasional articles appear in the Slovak Literary Review, Bratislava

BROADCASTS
Cambridge Poetry Festival BBC Radio 1979
National Poetry Competition Winners BBC Radio 3 1982
The Country of Rumour BBC Radio 3 "Living Poet" Series 1985
"Hviezdy a More" Slovak Television 1990 (Translations of JS-S poems with interview and discussion)

OTHER PUBLIC LECTURES AND ACADEMIC PAPERS
Lectures on Politics at various venues in Slovakia during the Velvet Revolution between December 1989 and March 1990
Contemporary British Poetry delivered at Šafarík University 1989, Palacky University (Olomouc) 1990, Karelian State Pedagogic Institute 1992.
Slovak Fairy Tales in Comparative Studies delivered at Warwick University 1991
Perceptions of the Communicative Method by Slovak English Language Teachers delivered at University of Nitra 1992, later published in Proceedings of Nitra Conference
Training Teaching Supervisors delivered at Šafarík University 1992, later published in Proceedings of Šafarík Conference.
Literary Irony and the Slovak Folk Tradition delivered at Cieszyn Conference September 1994 published by the University of Silesia in 1996 in Culture and Identity edited by Suzanne Stern-Gillet et al. Wydawnnictwo Uniwersytetu, Katowice 1996
Workshops given at Brno BETEC conference 1991 and 1992 on English Language teaching methodology at University of East Anglia in October 1994 on Translating Slovak Poetry
Readings in Slovak short fiction and the poetry of Lydia Vadkerti-Gavorníková at the Second Colloquium in Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia, September 1996
Losing My Voice delivered at the University of Silesia Conference on "Exile" in September 1998 and published in Exile edited by Suzanne Stern-Gillet et al. Wydawnnictwo Uniwersytetu, Katowice 2000
Guest lecturer at Karelian State Pedagogic Institute October/November 1992 and May 1994

AWARDS AND PRIZES

Britain - EC Gregory Award (for poets under 30) 1978, Cheltenham International
Poetry Festival Competition 1982 (2nd), with TLS 1986 (3rd), 1988 (Special Mention), National Poetry Competition of Great Britain 1982 3rd, 1983 5th, 1986 5th, 1987 4th, 1989 5th. City of Cardiff International Festival Poetry Competition 1992 2nd. 2001 4th
Prizes also in York Poetry Competition 1987 and Poetry Business Competition 1994, Runner-up, Stand Poetry competition 1996 , runner-up Bridport Festival Competition, 1996, 2nd place 1998 and Highly Commended, Exeter Competition 1996, 3rd place 1997
Peterloo Poetry Competition 2002 Winner
America - Phillips Award, Stone Country Magazine 1984,
San Jose Studies Poetry Award 1984, 1987, 1991
Hviezdoslav Prize for Translation 2003