I write poems (a lot) and the occasional novel (one).
My first collection of poetry – You Took the Last Bus Home (Unbound, 2016) – gathered together many of the poems I originally shared on Twitter. A follow-up collection, Alexa, what is there to know about love? was published by Picador in 2021 to much critical acclaim from me. In between, I wrote a novel, Diary of a Somebody (Picador, 2019) was shortlisted for the Costa first novel award, presumably following some sort of clerical error.
I’ve also written poetry for children. A collection of football poetry – 50 Ways to Score a Goal – came out in 2021 (Macmillan, 2021), while my poem Refugees has been made into an illustrated book for children (with Palazzo Editions in 2019).
A new collection – Days Like These (Picador, 2022) – which features a poem for every day of the year, published in October.
In other news, I quite like custard creams and have an aversion to author photographs (including my own).
This is the final sentence of this short biography and adds very little of value.
Brian Bilston's Poetry Laboetry 
Dear Brian,
I teach English to adults in Belgium and have been wondering whether I can use your poems in class (about once a month). I am hoping to (re)awaken their interest in poetry this way.
I have noticed in the comments here that you often allow this – thank you on behalf of all of us teachers!
Marie
Hi Marie, yes, of course. Thank you for sharing my poems with your students!
It’s NationalPoetry Day on Thursday and I’d like to read one of your poems from ‘Alexa…etc” in my local library in Skelmanthorpe, a West Yorkshire village near Huddersfield. Would that be okay?
Mike
Hi Mike, that would be more than okay – I’d be honoured! Hope the event goes well. All the best, Brian
I just read your book.
Thanks so much for writing it.
I loved every word.
Here’s some errata for Diary of a Somebody:
p16 “whom he met at sales conference” should be “whom he met at a sales conference”.
p272 the tear should probably be on the right side on the page, not the left.
p328 “as distraction” should be “as a distraction”.
p391 “8th April” should be “1st April”.
p392 “8th June” should be “9th June”.
p392 “25th June” should be “27th June”.
p392 “18th September” the poem has gone missing.
Thanks again.
Thanks very much for your kind words. Very glad you enjoyed it. Thanks also for the errata. A couple I’d not encountered before so that’s very helpful. The issues on pp391-2 have been sorted now, though. Can I ask what version of the Diary did you read: hardcover, paperback or ebook?
Thanks again,
Brian
It was a paperback, printed in the UK.
Thanks!
Dear Brian,
I would like to ask if it’s possible to quote your poem Refugees in our upcoming book.
Thank you
Iain
Hi Iain, thanks for getting in touch. Please can you give me some more details about your book. Best wishes, Brian
Thank you, Brian.
Our book is called Ten Survival Skills for a World in Flux, and is by Tom Fletcher. It’s a guide to the skills for modern life!
I could also email you the poem as Tom would like it to appear in the book.
All best,
Iain
Thanks, Iain. As the book is being published by Harper Collins, you’ll need to get in touch with the rights department of my publisher Unbound. The contact there is Ilona Chavasse and her email address is ilona@unbound.co.uk
Best wishes,
Brian
Hello, Sir, Thank you for your hilarious poetry! I’ve discovered a Treasure today (that would be YOU, btw😃). I’ve already shared two of your poems on my feed. Keep writing! We love your stuff.😃
Thank you, Sherry. What a kind thing to say. That’s made my morning!
Dear Brian,
Does anyone ever send you poems?! This is a Christmas poem my 11yr old wrote…. it made me laugh out loud, so I’m sharing… “The Humble Sprout”
The Humble Sprout,
Nothing’s wrong with it.
However,
They make people shout.
Only a small cabbage
The flavour – quite bland
You can roast ’em, fry ’em, boil ’em
And with butter they taste grand!
A vegetable most hated,
I can change your mind
Because, when plated
I think you’ll find….
Behold! The Humble Sprout!
Sweet, yet savoury
Chewy, delectable, warm,
Gives me a feeling I want to cry out:
A VEGETABLE MOST HATED
IS HIGHLY UNDER-RATED!
Oh! how I love to munch
on sprouts at Christmas lunch
I love that! Very excellent and funny. What a clever young poet you have in your midst!
Hi Brian,
I am studying at the undergraduate level(from india) and we have one of your poems (refugee),in our syllabus and in the place of the poets picture “Jeremy Clarkson’s” picture is published.
I wonder why?an explanation?
,so I can convince my teacher that jerremy Clarkson is not Brian bilston
Oh no, that’s tragic! I can reassure you that I am not Jeremy Clarkson. Where does this photo appear?
He was a little before my time but I know of him, enough to hear of his ability with words. Thanks for the kind nudge – I shall give him a listen.
I’ve just read the lyrics to that. They’re brilliant. And I’m sorry that you’ve had cause this year for that song to resonate so with you. Hope you have people around you. And yes, sorry I missed you out earlier comment. Please feel free to use those lines in your own version. No need to mention me!
Hi Brian,
Our church (Nailsea Methodist Church in North Somerset) is looking to become a ‘Church of Sanctuary’ (part of City of Sanctuary). Would it be permissible to put your poem ‘Refugees’ in our church magazine? (The magazine is free) Thank you.
Ceri
Hi Ceri, please feel free to reproduce my poem in your magazine – and good luck in achieving your Church of Sanctuary status.
Thank you so much.
Ceri
P.S. I’ve ordered your ‘Refugees’ book, to share with the KS1 children in the school in Bristol where I teach. (It is a ‘School of Sanctuary’) 🙂
Wonderful – thank you!
Good Morning Brain, huge fan of your work. Just wondering when you were born and where? I’m writing a paper for the New York Times. Looking forward to hearing from you. Sincerely Mike Hawk.
Hi Mike, thanks for getting in touch. I was born in England, some time in the 1970s.
Hi Brian, I edit an online poetry magazine called The Friday Poem (https://thefridaypoem.com) and would like to interview you for it — would this be possible? Thanks & best, Hilary Menos
Hi Hilary, thanks for getting In touch. I’d be delighted to answer a few questions. I don’t really do in-person interviews (unless my publisher makes me) but very happy to answer questions via email.
Hi Brian. I was wondering if we could please use your poem “Refugees” for a special fundraising magazine we are producing? We are not making any profits from the magazine and we are absorbing all editorial, design and other costs to ensure all money raised goes directly to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. Thank you, Sinead.
Thanks, Sinead. Absolutely – it’s all yours. Good luck with the fundraising.
Hi Brian,
i’ve just discovered your work through an impulsive decision at waterstones and immediately fell in love! i read alexa, what is there to know about love in one sitting at an obscure time of night, so i had to read more and after following you on twitter i only love you more. Today, you posted a poem about sundays, which honestly felt eerie to me because one of my favourite things to write about is sundays too! your purposeful use of language and rhyme is something i aspired to long before i ever discovered you, and finding you honestly feels like divine timing. this is a poem i wrote a couple months ago that i think (i hope) you’ll enjoy. have a wonderfully mundane sunday!
comic relief
the smartest man i ever met
coasts through life with 6 things to say
and he’d pick them like russian roulette.
detonation in 5, 4,
he’ll only leave once the victor was announced
and he’d won,
3 for 3 – gg.
sunglasses on
the reaper will take, but he won’t wreck his eyes too.
i don’t think i’ve ever met someone so deathly aware of the apocalypse
who laughs that hard at a ‘yo mamma’ diss
he’s the only one i’ve ever met who could balance an ignorant bliss
while knowing completely why he must build his home back brick by brick.
Thanks for your kind comments, Nariman – and for sharing your poem, which was excellent and I enjoyed very much.
Hello Brian,
I, like many others, am writing to ask permission to use your poem Refugees in my English class. I teach in a sixth form in Brittany, in France.
This is such a wonderful, ingenious poem to be able to study with students. The language is simple so most of them can understand it without having to go into a detailed analysis. And of Such a universal subject, and an issue that just never ends…
Thank you, Catherine. I’d be delighted for you to use the poem with your students. Hope they get a lot out of it.
I have been homeschooling for years, trying to teach my children to appreciate poetry. You Took the Last Bus Home is the first poetry book I have EVER enjoyed, and we are adding it to our curriculum. Thank you for sharing your clever use of words and making me laugh out loud. Good medicine!
Thank you, Michele. How kind of you to take the time to tell me that. That news has made my day!
I like Brian
He keeps on tryin
To make us laugh
And he succeeds
Not ‘arf
Ha ha! Thank you. I enjoyed that.
Hi Brian,
I hope you are well.
I work at a venue and was wondering how we go about booking you for an event?
Hi Gareth, thanks for getting in touch. The best thing would be for you to get in touch with my book publicist, Camilla Elworthy, as she kindly sorts out all the events for me. Her email address is: camilla.elworthy@macmillan.com
All the best,
Brian
Hello Brian Bilston
I do not use social meja and so I came upon your book ‘You caught the last bus home’ by pure happenstance (I was searching for books by Brian Bilton). However, I enjoyed it so much that I did something I have not done for many years…I went onto Kobo and paid FULL PRICE for ‘Diary of a somebody’ (I only usually buy the 99p books). I am a pensioner, so I hope it’s worth it.
Roger
I am sorry to have provoked you into parting with so much money, Roger. If the book is not to your satisfaction, you can either a) apply for a refund or b) request me to write you a better one. Please note that the latter may take some time.
Thank you for your kind offer, I’ll let you know my preference once I’ve read a bit further (if I do decide on the refund, I prefer postal orders). By the way, the image by my name is not really me, like you I use a pseudofas.
Roger
I’ve just been introduced to Brian Bilston through your poem The Cost Of Living. I would like to publish it in our monthly village newsletter if that would be possible please? We only print 140 copies and also have an e mail list to send to.
Many thanks
Penny
Thanks, Penny. Yes, that’s all fine by me. Thanks for asking!
Dear Brian
My husband and I love your poetry and read them most days. The sentiments, humour and social/political commentary resonate with us. Are you doing any readings in Cambridgeshire or East Anglia in the near future? I would like to surprise my husband by taking him to a reading event.
Thank you so much for your kind words, Fiona. I’m coming to near(ish) you on 18th October, when I’m doing at reading at Hart’s Books in Saffron Walden. I’ve just read, however, that tickets have sold out. Might be worth seeing if they have a wait list? I’ll also be in Ely at Toppings Bookshop earlier that day but I think that’s just to sign books rather than do a reading. I’m sure I’ll be back over your way soon, though.
Dear Mr.Bilston
I write to praise your poems,full of humour and ,in the one about the climate, carrying a message of hope conveyed ingeniously.
May your pen never dry.
Bob Whelan
P.S. As a versifier of sorts myself,
I send you one of my scribblings,and hope it might amuse:
Whether they’re gracefully strolling
Or curled up sleeping on mats
I make a beeline for any oul’ feline
Let’s face it,I’m mad about cats
Thanks, Bob, I love that! Thanks also for your kind comments – that’s very generous of you.
hi Bryan
I would very much like to ask to read at our Poetry Festival next year in Morecambe.
It runs September 22nd to 24th.
what’s the best way to try and sort something out?
Hi Matt, thanks very much for the invitation. The best thing would be too email Camilla Elworthy, who is publicist for my books with Picador (and tells me what events to go and do!). Her email address is Camilla.Elworthy@macmillan.com
All the best,
Brian
Hi Brian, my son Leo sent me a copy of your View from a Train Window; and the View from the Author’s Companion came to me, in a series of flashes!
THE OTHER VIEW FROM THE TRAIN
-ster skeletal giantess
-ey fly in peloton north-west
-r if milk is becoming worthless
– the coming harvest
-ack, flashes of smashed union jacks
-gsters, seedy suburbs, and sidings
Some buildings
Graffiti
Wolverhampton – with its brand new Bus Station!
All best wishes, Sebastian
Oh, I love that. Thank you for sharing it with me, Sebastian. What’s even better is that, unlike me, you managed to spell ‘graffiti’ correctly.
DEAR BRIAN
I love the sweet cover of your latest,
Your rave-reviewed, theses –
Your ‘Days Like These’ volume
In a year’s easy pieces,
Which appears to be offered
From a brusher, with love,
As s/he sweeps up the sheaves
Of the leaves from mellifluous,
Multi-deciduous trees….
But, search as I might,
Overday, overnight,
I cannot determine who
This gruff brusher might be.
Are you he?
Did you quietly rush off
A drone-made back-selfie like this?
But whoever the figure,
For me, a question much bigger, is:
Who is the artist?
For He / She / or Other
Should never be given
The brush-off, you see?
I love that, not least the inclusion of the word ‘mellifluous’, which really should get more outings. The gruff brusher is not me, although I have been known to make sweeping changes. In terms of the artist, it’s by a chap called Joe Berger who has produced the illustrations for my last three books. There’s a credit to him on the back inside cover.
Thanks again for the superb poem.
‘On the inside back cover’ –
I’m running to see
Where’s my blind spot:
So I’m more of a weak swot
Than I thought so to be!
Joe Berger
Emerges
From under the trees!
I greet his emergence
With pleasure – do, please
Pass on my warm greetings,
For more of his ‘sweepings’,
I’m urgently waiting!
I love his front covers
Conveying with ease
The tone of the poems
Enclosed – seems he’ll know ’em
Enough as to winnow
The chaff,
And discover the seeds –
And thus craft
Out a winner:
A visual, poetic, release –
Set to tease
Every poetry shopper’s
Soft brain cells,
So Brian sells
A million more copies!
More, please!
Hi Brian
Thank you for your poem about refugees. We wondered if we might have permission to use it in our parish magazine (St Matthew with St Paul, Winchester). The plan is to have a focus on refugees in our next edition. We’ve hosted a couple of musical events for the new Ukrainian community here, and a number of us in the parish have been or still are hosting Ukrainian guests.
Thank you,
Ursula
Thanks for getting in touch, Ursula. I’d be delighted for you to reproduce the poem in your magazine. Thanks for asking! Best wishes, Brian
Hi Brian,
TBH I had never heard of you but while browsing in the brilliant 20 storey bookshop in Kelso I came across a signed copy of ‘days like these’ & on a whim bought a copy.
I love poetry and you are a skilled wordsmith.
The matching of different events with each day adds even more depth to your excellent poetry.
Just wanted to say ‘thank you’ for cheering me up so skilfully.
Take care
David
Thanks, David. What a delightful message. That’s really made my day.
All the best,
Brian
I saw the magic on stage last evening, following fish and chips in the only eatery available. Our friends across the Atlantic have pinched and diluted this word, but I use it in it’s full sense. Brian, you were Awesome in Chorley, so thank you.
Thank you so much, Polly. I loved that evening. And ‘Awesome in Chorley’ should be the title of a RomCom movie.
Sir, I “teach” English conversation here in Spain. May I please base at least one lesson around your poetry, from the tragedy of Refugees to the humour of Bad Salad?
Thanks for getting in touch. I’d be delighted for you to do so.
Best wishes, Brian
Hi Brian! I just wanted to let you know how much I’m enjoying ‘Days Like These’ and what a treat your poems are at the end of the day! Thank you 😊 for brightening up my dark January days! How lovely to be taken on a journey through the year with your words and wisdom!
Thank you, Liz. What a delightful thing to hear. Thanks for making my morning!
I am developing a game based on the Fibonacci number series and would like your permission to use your poem “word crunching” as an example of this number series importance.
Hi Ron, that’s fine by me. If the intention is for the game to be developed commercially, though, you’d need to get in touch with my publisher (Unbound), who handle rights and permissions for that poem.
Thanks!
Thank you but my intent is to build a few for friends and family i don’t believe that there is a market to make a thousand of this game but I can hope and if it does fly I will certainly give you your do compensation for your contribution. Thank you again.
DAZED LIKE THIS
Brian Bilston
can distil an
incident on
any day in
history;
and with a twist
get to the gist –
the nub,
the kernel
or the grist –
and so instil in
wordly wit,
a verse absurdly
fit to fill
the moment and
immortalise it.
But how he plays
this trick of time,
to daze me with
his rhythm and rhyme,
stays an eternal
mystery!
That’s delightful. Thank you so much, Sebastian.
Hello Brian
Your poem Refugees had been forwarded to me with a request to put it in our church magazine. It’s really thought provoking and it would be great to include it if you wouldn’t mind us doing so. Would that be ok?
Thanks for getting in touch, Jenny. And yes, please feel free to do so.
Dear Brian
First off, I love your poems. Thank you for the joy you bring through your work. I have copies of all your books and have gifted them to friends too. Secondly, I would like to write to you to ask if we may use one of your poems in our resource materials for secondary school students in Singapore, namely the poem Refugees. Do let me know how I could get in touch with you, and I look forward to hearing from you!
Dear Meenakshi, thanks very much for your kind comments. That’s very generous of you. In terms of the use of Refugees in your resource materials, if it’s in the context of making the poem available for students at a particular school that would be fine. If it’s needed as part of a commercial educational resource (ie something published for profit), you’d need to get in touch with Ilona Chavasse at Unbound, as she manages the rights and permissions for that poem. Her email address is ilona@unbound.co.uk
Hope this helps!
Hi Brian/Paul
Long time appreciator of your work here.
The word ‘fan’ would be overstating it 🙂.
I have a couple of very unimportant questions.
Firstly, does Bilston refer to the town near Wolverhampton?
Secondly, are you a supporter of a midland football team? You’ve mentioned Walsall and Birmingham, I wondered if you were a fellow bluenose?
Cheers
Ian
Yes and yes, but please don’t tell anyone else.
I am a high school teacher in Fairbanks, Alaska and would like permission to use “Ten Rules for Aspiring Poets” in my English 10 class. Thank you for your consideration.
Hi Melissa, thanks for getting in touch. Yes, by all means please feel free to use it.
Thank you. Is there a better way to get in touch in case I want to ask permission for other poems?