Sebastian Barker (1945 - 2014)

Sebastian Barker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1997. He was also chairman of the Poetry Society (1988–92) and editor of the London Magazine (2002–08). He worked as a writer-in-residence, judged poetry and writing competitions, founded and directed literature festivals, and served as an executive for English Pen. The universities of Warwick, Sussex, Swansea, London, Middlesex, Cambridge, New York and Fordham invited him to participate in philosophy conferences and poetry readings in connection with his work on Nietzsche and Heidegger.

Sebastian represented the UK at international poetry festivals in Malaysia, Greece and Lithuania. He was the author of many books of poetry including: Guarding the Border: selected poems (Enitharmon, 1992), The Dream of Intelligence (Littlewood Arc, 1992) — his long poem about Nietzsche (a book of the year in the Spectator and the Independent), Damnatio Memoriae: erased from memory (Enitharmon, 2004) and The Erotics of God (Smokestack, 2005) — a book of the year in the Tablet. The Poetry Archive, affiliated to the British Library, published his CD recording Sebastian Barker Reading from his Poems in 2006.

His final volumes of poetry included The Land of Gold (Enitharmon, 2013) and A Monastery of Light (The Bow-Wow Shop, 2013). He also published three collections of philosophical, theological and cultural essays, The Matter of Europe (Menard, 2005), Rowan Williams’ Theology of Art & Other Essays (Edwin Mellen, 2010) and A Theology of Poetry: the wheels of Ezekiel (Edwin Mellen, 2010).