Writers

Add to researchKevin Crossley-Holland

Kevin Crossley-Holland

Oenone Crossley-Holland

Born
North Buckinghamshire
Genre
Children, Fiction, Libretto, Poetry, Short Stories, Young Adult,
 
 
Biography
Kevin Crossley-Holland was born in 1941 in North Buckinghamshire and grew up in the Chilterns.

He studied at Oxford University, where he developed a passion for Anglo-Saxon literature. He became Gregory Fellow in Poetry at the University of Leeds and lecturer in Anglo-Saxon for the Tufts University of London programme from 1972-1977. He has also taught in the Midwest as Fulbright Visiting Scholar at St. Olaf College, then as Endowed Chair in the Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of St. Thomas.

He worked as a poetry, fiction and children’s book editor for Macmillan at the beginning of his writing career, later becoming editorial director at Victor Gollancz, and is well-known for his poetry, novels, story collections, translations such as Beowulf (1982) and reinterpretations of medieval legends. He has also written and presented many radio programmes.

His work includes collaborations with composers Sir Arthur Bliss and William Mathias; and the libretti for two operas by Nicola LeFanu, The Green Children (1966) and The Wildman (1976), as well as a chamber opera about Nelson, Haydn and Emma Hamilton; and a stage play – The Wuffings (1999).

In addition to collections in which he retells traditional stories,  such as The Norse Myths (1980) and British Folk Tales (1987), he is the author of Storm (1985), winner of a Carnegie Medal, and shortlisted in 2007 for the Carnegie of Carnegies. He is also well-known for the Arthurian trilogy set in the Welsh Marches in the Middle Ages and comprising: The Seeing Stone (2000); At the Crossing-Places (2001) and King of the Middle March (2003). The Seeing Stone won several prizes, including the 2001 Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize, and was shortlisted for the Whitbread Children's Book Award, and the trilogy has been published in 23 languages.

He is the author of several volumes of poetry, and his Selected Poems was published in 2001.

Kevin Crossley-Holland is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford. He lives in Norfolk.

His most recent work includes Thor and the Master of Magic (2009) and a new Viking saga, The Bracelet of Bones , which is forthcoming in 2011.

Critical Perspective

A quick look through the above list of Kevin Crossley-Holland’s publications should be enough to indicate to the uninitiated that he is a creative writer in a fairly broad sense.

His achievements include winning the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize for an Arthurian romance, The Seeing Stone (2000), writing operas in collaboration with composers such as Nicola LeFanu, and translating Old Norse and Old English texts, including the fascinating Exeter Riddle Book (1978) and Beowulf (1982), in a reader-friendly prose style suitable for children.

However, he is probably best known as a poet. After working for many years as an academic in London, Bavaria and Minnesota, Crossley-Holland moved in the 1990s to North Norfolk, but his fascination with medieval and Anglo-Saxon literature and history continues to inform his work – both in terms of subject matter and technique. He has recently stated: ‘It's years now since I translated from Anglo-Saxon. But when I write, it is always at my back and in my ear: an oral tradition; good, strong, quick, keen, earthed words; stress patterning as opposed to metric rhythm; alliteration and other music; the highly-wrought’. His best poetry is subtle, meditative, atmospheric and often spiritual, and has a quiet beauty all its own – much like the modest East Anglian landscape in which Crossley-Holland has now spent so much of his life. This is poetry that can usually be understood with the ear, and which benefits from reading out loud, like its Anglo-Saxon precedents. As well as the beautifully simple images in this excerpt from ‘An Approach to the Marsh’ (Time’s Oriel, 1983), note the long, mournful vowels, and the fleeting moments of assonance, sibilance and alliteration, as well as the enjambments that roll all together softly so that form echoes sense:

                        'This is no man’s land

that never belongs to earth or sea entirely:

now the flowing barley hemmed by screaming poppies,

a gull perched on a salt-rusted ploughshare

and a gull, a litter of blood-tarred feathers,

festering. A veil of butterflies, opalescent,

dips and quivers and rises, and I come to where

there is no going beyond.'

　

East Anglia has a rich medieval heritage, and Crossley-Holland’s work often amplifies the echoes of the region’s past. In the 1990s he co-wrote, with Ivan Cutting, The Wuffings (1999), a play about the early history of the Kingdom of the East Angles. Around the same time he published Poems from East Anglia (1997), which includes the poem ‘To the Edge’:

'To the scatter of a hamlet where nothing happens,

slowly. Sixty generations banked in the mud of

dogged minds.'

There is something very romantic about this, of course. But the depth of history can be expressed particularly effectively if one also emphasises a modern reality, dropping an anchor in the here and now, and this is also a landscape of ‘leaching chemicals / and uprooted hedges’.

North Norfolk is one of Britain’s many geographical outposts, albeit hardly the wildest of them, and this poet has an obvious affection for geographical extremities. It is as though a close proximity to the sea, and the edges of the land, can prompt a sense of spiritual oneness between disparate elements; and this is a source both of consolation and, in the purest sense, wonder. In ‘Dusk, Burnham-Overy-Staithe’ (The Rain-Giver, 1972), he remarks with awe:

'I only guess where marsh

finishes and sky begins,

each grows out of the other.'

And in ‘Swarm and Honeycomb’ (Selected Poems, 2001) the speaker contemplates universal spiritual questions, albeit in a less than typical manner, and finds a sort of stoic’s consolation in staring out to sea:

'Celtic mothers and Saxon fathers: their piety

most enviable because uncomplicated,

though hard-won. But who said anything

should be easy? Not the crusted stanchions

on the foreshore, nailing together earth, sea, sky.'

　

Other remoter geographical extremities are also evoked in his poetry, and there is usually a strong sense of history in these poems too. In ‘Orkney Girls’ (Waterslain: and other poems, 1986), the speaker finds himself at the Neolithic site of Skara Brae:

        'In this sunken room

amongst dresser, hearth and cot,

shafted by sunlight, repossessed

after five thousand winters […].'

This poem provides a good example of how Crossley-Holland’s poetry often manages to be deeply personal and simultaneously present an aspect of a cultural history. It is often both readily accessible and illusory enough so that a careful reader will find himself scanning through reference sources now and again – often learning more about his own heritage in the process. The aforementioned ‘Swarm and Honeycomb’ begins with a section called ‘Mediterranean saints’, in which Crossley-Holland notes that ‘England’s a-buzz with saints!’: ‘how few / we know, and how little we care for them’. But these men and women can nonetheless be compared to the poet and his reader:

'Xystus the pope with a sword in his gut,

Yves the attorney and the housemaid Zita …

A flying alphabet! Hermit and cenobite,

anchoress and tertiary, but also the almost

unsuspecting – as if you, or I, were obliged

by circumstance to speak out and die.'

Spiritual dimensions are important to Crossley-Holland’s work, particularly in his more recent poetry. I have pointed out how his poetry about Norfolk and other geographical extremities can prompt meditations on the oneness of disparate elements, and this is true also of his poetry about God. In ‘And God said’ (Selected Poems, 2001), Crossley-Holland emphasises the centrality of God in all things:

'What opposes grace? Disgrace.

And brutality? Tenderness.

How can hate mother love?

What is the distance from no to yes?

They live in the interstices.

I live in all their choices.'

But his meditations are not infrequently underscored by a palpable sense of joy in simply being, and in spiritual connection. His poetry is full of yearning, hope, discovery:

'I still want.

Let me make and remake the word

which reveals itself,

unexpected, always various,

and be so curious

(affirmation’s mainspring)

I sing the language of yes.'

(‘The Language of Yes’, The Language of Yes, 1996)

Rory Waterman, 2010

Bibliography

2011
The Bracelet of Bones, Quercus
2011
Short Too!, Oxford University Press
2009
Thor and the Master of Magic, Barrington Stoke
2008
Waterslain Angels, Orion
2008
Crossing to Paradise, Arthur A. Levine Books
2007
Outsiders, Orion
2006
Moored Man, illustrated by Norman Ackroyd, Enitharmon
2006
Gatty's Tale, Orion
2005
Light Unlocked: Christmas Card Poems, editor with Lawrence Sail; illustrated by John Lawrence, Enitharmon
2005
King Arthur's World, Orion
2004
How Many Miles To Bethlehem?, Orion
2003
Tales from the Old World, Orion
2003
King of the Middle March, Orion
2002
Why the Fish Laughed and other tales, editor, Oxford University Press
2002
Viking!: Myths of Gods and Monsters, Orion
2002
The Nightingale that Shrieked and other tales, editor, Oxford University Press
2001
The Ugly Duckling: From the Story by Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Meilo So, Orion
2001
The Magic Lands: Folk Tales of Britain and Ireland, Orion
2001
Selected Poems, Enitharmon
2001
Ghosts and Goblins, editor, Orion
2001
At the Crossing Places, Orion
2000
The Seeing Stone, Orion
1999
The Wuffings, iwith Ivan Cutting, Runetree
1999
The New Exeter Book of Riddles, editor with Lawrence Sail; illustrated by Simon Drew, Enitharmon
1998
Young Oxford Book of Folk Tales, editor, Oxford University Press
1998
The King Who Was and Will Be: The World of King Arthur and his Knights, illustrated by Peter Malone, Orion
1998
Small-Tooth Dog, illustrated by Peter Melnyczuk, Orchard
1998
Short!: A Book of Very Short Stories, Oxford University Press
1998
Different, but oh how like!, Daylight Press/Society for Storytelling
1998
Boo!, Orchard
1997
The Old Stories: Folk Tales from East Anglia and the Fen Country, retold; illustrated by John Lawrence, Colt Books
1997
Poems from East Anglia, Enitharmon
1996
The Language of Yes, Enitharmon
1995
The Dark Horseman and other British and Irish Folk Tales, Orchard
1993
The Labours of Herakles, illustrated by Peter Utton, Orion
1992
The Tale of Taliesin, with Gwyn Thomas; illustrated by Margaret Jones, Gollancz
1992
Long Tom and the Dead Hand and more Tales from East Anglia and the Fen Country, illustrated by Shirley Felts, Deutsch
1992
Eleanor's Advent, engravings by Alyson MacNeill, Old Stile
1991
Tales from Europe, retold, BBC
1991
Sleeping Nanna, illustrated by Peter Melnyczuk, Orchard
1991
Sea Tongue, illustrated by Clare Challice, BBC/Longman
1991
New and Selected Poems 1965-1990, Hutchinson
1990
British and Irish Folk Tales: a Selection of Stories from British Folk Tales, Orchard
1989
The Stones Remain: Megalithic Sites of Britain, photographs by Andrew Rafferty, Rider
1988
Wulf, illustrated by Gareth Floyd, Faber and Faber
1988
The Quest for Olwen, with Gwyn Thomas; illustrated by Margaret Jones, Lutterworth
1988
The Painting-Room: and other poems, Hutchinson
1988
Piper and Pooka, Orchard
1988
Oenone in January, illustrated by John Lawrence, Old Stile Press
1988
Medieval Lovers: a Book of Days, selector, Century
1988
Kevin Crossley-Holland's East Anglia Poems, illustrated by James Dodds, Jardine
1988
Dathera Dad, illustrated by Peter Melnyczuk, Orchard
1987
Northern Lights: Legends, Sagas and Folk-Tales, editor; illustrated by Alan Howard, Faber and Faber
1987
Enchantment: Fairy Tales, Ghost Stories and Tales of Wonder, Orchard
1987
British Folk Tales, Orchard
1986
Waterslain: and other poems, Hutchinson
1986
The Wanderer, translator; illustrated by James Dodds, Jardine Press
1986
The Oxford Book of Travel Verse, selector and editor, Oxford University Press
1985
The Fox and the Cat, retold from Grimm; illustrated by Susan Varley, Andersen
1985
Storm, illustrated by Alan Marks, Heinemann
1985
Folk Tales of the British Isles, selector, introduction; engravings by Hannah Firmin, Folio Society
1985
Axe-Age, Wolf-Age, illustrated by Hannah Firmin, Deutsch
1984
The Mabinogion, with Gwyn Thomas; illustrated by Margaret Jones, Gollancz
1983
Time's Oriel, Hutchinson
1982
The Riddle Book, compiler; illustrated by Bernard Handelsman, Macmillan
1982
The Dead Moon and Other Tales from East Anglia and the Fen Country, illustrated by Shirley Felts, Faber and Faber
1982
The Anglo-Saxon World, translator, editor, Boydell
1982
Between my Father and my Son, Black Willow Press
1982
Beowulf, illustrated by Charles Keeping, Oxford University Press
1980
The Norse Myths, retelling, Deutsch
1980
The Faber Book of Northern Folk Tales, illustrated by Alan Howard, Faber and Faber
1978
The Exeter Riddle Book, translator and introduction; drawings by Virgil Burnett, Folio Society
1977
The Faber Book of Northern Legends, editor; illustrated by Alan Howard, Faber and Faber
1976
The Wildman, illustrated by Charles Keeping, Deutsch
1976
The Earth-Father, illustrated by Joanna Troughton, Heinemann
1976
The Dream-House, Deutsch
1976
New Poetry 2: an anthology, editor with Patricia Beer, Arts Council Great Britain
1975
The Fire-Brother, illustrated by Joanna Troughton, Heinemann
1975
Petal and Stone, Sceptre
1975
Green Blades Rising: the Anglo-Saxons, Deutsch
1973
The Sea Stranger, illustrated by Joanna Troughton, Heinemann
1972
The Rain-Giver, Deutsch
1972
Pieces of Land: Journeys to Eight Islands, Gollancz
1971
The Pedlar of Swaffham, illustrated by Margaret Gordon, Macmillan
1970
Storm and other English Riddles, translator; illustrated by Miles Thistlethwaite, Macmillan
1970
Norfolk Poems, photographs by John Hedgecoe, Academy Editions
1970
A Dream of a Meeting, Sceptre
1969
Wordhoard: Anglo-Saxon Stories, with Jill Paton Walsh, Macmillan
1968
The Callow Pit Coffer, illustrated by Margaret Gordon, Macmillan
1968
Beowulf, translator; illustrated by Brigitte Hanf, Macmillan
1968
Alderney, the Nunnery, Turret Books
1967
Winter's Tales 14, editor, Macmillan
1966
The Green Children, illustrated by Margaret Gordon, Macmillan
1965
King Horn: A Medieval Romance, illustrated by Charles Keeping, Macmillan
1964
Havelok the Dane, illustrated by Brian Wildsmith, Macmillan

Awards

2008
Carnegie Medal, Gatty's Tale, shortlist
2007
Carnegie of Carnegies, Storm, shortlist
2001
Whitbread Children's Book Award, The Seeing Stone, shortlist
2001
Welsh Books Council Tir na n-Og Award, The Seeing Stone
2001
SWPA Spoken Word Award, The Seeing Stone, silver award
2001
Nestlé Smarties Book Prize (Bronze Award), The Seeing Stone
2001
Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The Seeing Stone, shortlist
2001
Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, The Seeing Stone
1985
Carnegie Medal, Storm