R.I.P. Adrian Mitchell, 76 (British poet/playwright: "The Snow Queen," 1998)

Aka Volcano Jones, Apeman Mudgeon, & Gerald Stimpson.

"Umpteen Poems" is due in 2009.

http://www.rippingyarns.co.uk/adrian/
(Mitchell's homepage)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/dec/21/adrian-mitchell-obituary
Obit: "The poet and playwright Adrian Mitchell, in whom the legacies
of Blake and Brecht coalesce with the zip of Little Richard and the
swing of Chuck Berry......"

http://www.socialistworker.co.uk/art.php?id=16758
Obit: ".....Very recently, I received through the post a sample of a
forthcoming book for children based on the Roman poet Ovid's
"Metamorphoses". To attempt it was so typical of him: he takes this
set of earthy, erotic, subtle narratives and observations of change
and has created a staggering cornucopia of poetry available for
all....."

http://www.poetryarchive.org/poetryarchive/singlePoet.do?poetId=40
(another obit)

http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=auth519D193A0f10920030wNq1B3A350
(biography and a 2005 critical perspective)

From "Contemporary Poets":

"My mind and imagination and my life have been altered by many things
and many people. Other people's poetry has been among my most
important experiences, and I do not just mean great poetry.
Politically speaking, it was poetry as much as anything else that
pushed me first in the direction of left-wing political action, in
which I include committee work, demonstrating, envelope addressing, as
well as poetry. To cite some of the poets who have educated and
influenced me: Wilfred Owen, Walt Whitman, Kenneth Patchen, Alex
Comfort, Brecht, Beckett, John Arden, Allen Ginsberg, and most of all
William Blake. (But I have been influenced by hundreds of others, most
of all by my close friends and my family and a teacher named Michael
Bell.) I am sometimes called a committed poet. So is your old man.
There are many poets who because they turn their back on politics
believe they are somehow not engaged. But their indifference or their
silence contributes toward the status quo. And the status quo demands,
at different periods, exploitation, starvation, poverty, mass murder,
torture, vile prisons, the stunting of children's imaginations and--in
some part of the world during every day of my lifetime--war. When the
revolution comes, I expect some poetry to make some contribution
toward it; every revolution so far has had its own songs and poems.
That contribution toward changing the world may be very small, but the
smallest contribution helps when it is a matter of changing the world.
I do not think that poets should sit down and say, 'I've got to write
a political poem.' But I think a poet, like any other human being,
should recognize that the world is mostly controlled by political
forces and should become politically active. And if a poet attempts to
live his politics, his poems will become politically active too."


Besides his plays and poems for adults (strangely, "The Patchwork Girl
of Oz" was listed as one of his adult plays), he wrote:

FOR CHILDREN

* Nothingmas Day, Allison & Busby (London, England), 1984.

* The Baron Rides Out: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen as He
Told Them to Adrian Mitchell, illustrated by Patrick Benson, Walker
(London, England), 1985.

* The Baron on the Island of Cheese: More Adventures of Baron
Munchausen, illustrated by Patrick Benson, Walker (London, England),
1986.

* The Baron All at Sea: More Adventures of Baron Munchausen,
illustrated by Patrick Benson, Walker (London, England), 1987.

* Our Mammoth, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont, Walker (London,
England), 1987.

* Our Mammoth Goes to School, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont,
Walker (London, England), 1987.

* Our Mammoth in the Snow, illustrated by Priscilla Lamont, Walker
(London, England), 1987.

* (Compiler) Strawberry Drums: A Book of Poems with a Beat for You
and All Your Friends to Keep, illustrated by Frances Lloyd, Macdonald
Children's (Hove, England), 1989, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1991.

* All My Own Stuff (poems), illustrated by F. Lloyd, Simon &
Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

* (Editor) The Orchard Book of Poems, Orchard Books (London,
England), 1993.

* (Compiler) The Thirteen Secrets of Poetry, Simon & Schuster (New
York, NY), 1993.

* (Reteller) Hans Christian Andersen, The Ugly Duckling,
illustrated by Jonathan Heale, DK Publishing (London, England), 1994.

* Gynormous!: The Ultimate Book of Giants, illustrated by Sally
Gardner, Orion Children's Books (London, England), 1996.

* Maudie and the Green Children, illustrated by Sigune Hamann,
Tradewind, 1996.

* (Reteller) Hans Christian Andersen, The Steadfast Tin Soldier,
illustrated by Jonathan Heale, DK Publications (London, England),
1996.

* Balloon Lagoon and Other Magic Islands of Poetry, illustrated by
Tony Ross, Orchard Books (London, England), 1997.

* (Reteller) The Adventures of Robin Hood and Marian, illustrated
by Emma Chichester Clark, Orchard Books (London, England), 1998.

* Twice My Size, illustrated by Daniel Pudles, Bloomsbury (London,
England), 1998, Millbrook Press (Brookfield, CT), 1999.

* My Cat, Mrs Christmas, illustrated by Sophy Williams, Orion
Children's Books (London, England), 1998.

* Dancing in the Street: A Poetry Party, illustrated by Tony Ross,
Orchard Books (London, England), 1999.

* Daft as a Doughnut, illustrated by Tony Ross, Orchard Books
(London, England), 1999.

* (Reteller) The Odyssey, illustrated by Stuart Robertson, Dorling
Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

* Nobody Rides the Unicorn, illustrated by Stephen Lambert, Arthur
A. Levine Books (New York, NY), 2000.

* (Reteller) The Snow Queen, illustrated by Nilesh Mistry, Dorling
Kindersley (New York, NY), 2000.

* (Selector) A Poem a Day, illustrations by Russell Ayto and
others, Orchard Books (London, England), 2001.

* (With Daisy) Zoo of Dreams (poetry), Orchard Books (London,
England), 2001.

Poetry and lyrics recorded by Mitchell on The Dogfather, 57 Production
(London, England), 2000; poems recorded for British Library Archives
(London, England), 2005.

PLAYS; FOR CHILDREN

* (Author of lyrics) George Orwell's Animal Farm (musical),
adapted by Peter Hall, music by Richard Peaslee, Methuen (London,
England), 1985.

* (Adapter) The Pied Piper, Oberon (London, England), 1988.

* (Adapter) The Wild Animal Song Contest; and, Mowgli's Jungle,
introduction and activities by Alison Jenkins, Heinemann Educational
(Oxford, England), 1993.

* (Adapter) The Snow Queen, Oberon (London, England), 1998.

* (Adapter) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (based on the
novel by C.S. Lewis), Oberon (London, England), 1998.

* Tom Kitten and His Friends (musical; based on the work of
Beatrix Potter), music by Stephen McNuff, Samuel French (London,
England), 1998.

* The Mammoth Sails Tonight! (musical), music by Peter Moser,
Oberon (London, England), 1999.

* (Adapter) Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the
Looking Glass, Oberon (London, England), 2001.

* (Adapter) Vasilisa the Fair (based on The Frog Princess and
Other Russian Folk Tales, by Sophia Prokofieva), Samuel French (New
York, NY), 2003.

* (Adapter) Two Beatrix Potter Plays: Jemima Puddle-Duck and Her
Friends; Peter Rabbit and His Friends, Oberon (London, England), 2004.

* Aladdin, produced in Belfast, Ireland, 2004.

* Robin Hood and Marian (adapted from his children's book),
produced in Troy, NY, 2005.

"Also co-author, with Sasha Mitchell, of puppet-show adaptation of his
children's book Nobody Rides the Unicorn, 2005. Author of puppet show
Perseus and the Gorgon's Head, 2006."


Lenona.
.

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