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James Crowden
is an author and poet living in Somerset. Born in Plymouth in 1954,
he was raised on the western edge of Dartmoor. In 1972 he joined
the army and served in Cyprus travelling widely in Eastern Turkey,
Iran, Afghanistan and north west India. In 1976-77 he spent a winter
on the northern side of the Himalaya, in the remote Zangskar Valley
in Ladakh. It was from this experience that he developed a lifelong
interest in agriculture and Buddhism. James has a degree in Civil
Engineering from Bristol University and later studied ethnology
at Magdalen College, Oxford and the Pitt Rivers Museum. At the age
of 21 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
For the last 20 years James has worked in
North Dorset and South Somerset as a shepherd, sheep shearer, cider
maker and forester. The choice of manual work was deliberate and
gave him a deeper understanding of the landscape.
James has now retired from working on the
land and is writing full time. Over
the last few years he has worked on many different projects, in
particular with Common
Ground. In 1999 he was made their Apple Day Poet Laureate
and subsequently wrote a libretto for a major new environmental
opera called The Silver Messenger which was performed
in Christchurch Priory in July 2001. This was part of Common
Ground's three year Confluence Project with the composer
Karen Wimhurst on the River Stour in Dorset. Recently James has
worked on several recording projects for Year
of the Artist and Somerset
Now, as well as working on Foot
& Mouth poetry with Devon photographer Chris Chapman.
James's poetry has often been featured on
BBC Radio 4 and television, as well as Literature Festivals
at Dartington, Wells, Ludlow and Oxford. He enjoys working
in schools and gives a wide range of poetry workshops, talks
and lectures. Published in 2004 'Waterways' is Jame's latest
book commissioned by the National Trust on rivers and canals
in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is part of the
National Trust 'Living
Landscape Series'.
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