MIKE DI PLACIDO
"ALPHA"
"These beautifully-crafted, witty, nimble, often self-effacing poems give us scintillating glimpses of a gallery of giants, from Genghis Khan to Al Pacino, taking in Marco Polo, Monty Don, T. S Eliot, Mallory, and a host of others along the way. This poet has a tongue-in-cheek approach that belies the depth and sensitivity of his writing, and which results in a hugely entertaining collection of poems of deceptive profundity. Other poets could learn a lot from Di Placido’s deft skill, his comic genius, his disarming yet powerful take on the world and its major players. A collection to treasure, and one which speaks to us like few contemporary poets can." Keith Hutson
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mike Di Placido is a poet based in North Yorkshire. An ex-professional footballer and England Youth International, Mike ‘peddled his soccer wares’ across the globe, from York City to Australia and New Zealand, before turning to a life of literature – taking an MA in Poetry while working as a house-husband.
Mike Di Placido graduated in 2000 with an MA in Poetry from Huddersfield University. He has since published three poetry collections: Theatre of Dreams (Smith Doorstop, 2009); A Sixty Watt Las Vegas (Valley Press, 2013) and, most recently, Crow Flight across the Sun (Calder Valley Poetry, 2017) — a tribute to Ted Hughes.
He has reviewed poetry for The North magazine and acted as the sole judge in both The Poetry Business’s World Cup Poetry Competition, 2010 and The Poetry Space Competition, 2017. His work has been translated into German and Romanian by the web magazine Poetrypf and has also been broadcast on British and European radio.
Mike has appeared at numerous literary festivals and had work published in magazines such as The Rialto, The North, Pennine Platform and Poetry Saltzburg. He was also shortlisted for The Bridport Prize in 2010 and was a winner of the Yorkshire Poetry Prize in 2016.
CONTACT MIKE
Scarborough, UK