As I write this, the latest edition of The Rialto<\/i> is at the proofing stage and the last of the biographical notes are slipping in by the skin of their teeth. It feels a bit strange, having spent months getting to know poems, to now have a task focused on poets.<\/p>\n
In most cases the bio note is everything (external to the poem) that I know about these poets, so they were read with particular curiosity. It seems a little unfair to give bio notes such scrutiny when I know how often poets are unsure what to say in them. How can someone sum themselves up in a couple of sentences?<\/p>\n
It raises the question of what makes a good bio note. Personally, I have only ever received one piece of guidance on the subject. When I was starting to write poetry as an adult, I was fortunate enough to meet a well-known female poet whom I greatly admired. I asked what advice she would have for a poet starting out. I thought perhaps she would know of a daily regime that would hone my metrical skills until fully formed sonnets would drop out of my head. Or perhaps from her great height she could see the course of 21st century poetry laid before her and give me directions. Instead, her advice regarded bio notes and was surprisingly simple: \u2018Start lying about your age now.\u2019 Her reasoning being that opportunities are squared towards the \u2018young\u2019 and that men can string out being \u2018young\u2019 in poetry until their mid-40s while women had until 30 at best. I didn\u2019t take her advice and have remained honest if reticent, but since then whenever I\u2019ve seen biographical notes starting \u2018XXXX was born in 19XX\u2019 it has always made me pause.<\/p>\n
Maybe the best approach is to think about what the biographical note is actually for. Usually when I am reading the bios in a magazine, it is either because I\u2019m having a quick skim to see who is there or because I enjoyed a particular poem and I want to find out if the poet has more poems I can read. If it is a tool for finding more poetry then a workman-like list of publications remains extremely useful. The formula of poets listing magazines before they have a publication, and publications afterwards, does do the job. Meanwhile, including prizes reassures the reader that the poet they\u2019ve just read wasn\u2019t a one-hit wonder.<\/p>\n
There is a school of thought that the bio note should be more advertising hook than information board. With pressure to add something completely unrelated to poetry that makes you stand out. I do enjoy it when a note feels like it gives a glimpse of the poet\u2019s life, even though I\u2019m aware that with so little space and so much, conjecture these fragments are as likely to mislead as they are to paint an accurate portrait. I have read notes in the past that went a bit overboard, \u2018So-and-so lives in an exotic location where they have an exciting job and are having a much more fun than you\u2019 can make the heart sink. Are you applying for a job as a professor? No? Then don\u2019t send an academic CV in miniature. The trick, as ever, is to think of your reader.<\/p>\n
Remember that biographical notes have a tendency to breed. I once wrote a bio for a schools project in which I focused on my work with children, only to find that event organizers copied and pasted it without permission for about a year afterwards. The result was that no matter the context, in pub or anthology, my poetry was recommended purely on the basis of my experience working with children.<\/p>\n
Finally, when in doubt \u2013 keep it short.<\/p>\n
Holly Hopkins<\/p>\n