Armed with a degree in English from Leeds University and a teaching qualification from St Martin's College, Lancaster, I embarked on a teaching career which took me into five secondary schools where I held two Heads of English posts and one Assistant Headship. Now I tutor an adult creative writing class, visit reading and writing groups and lead workshops on a variety of topics including Raising Self-Esteem through the Spoken Word and Active Shakespeare.
Recently I have returned from Mondovi in northern Italy where I was a guest of the cultural group, Amici di Piazza.
My poems, short stories and educational articles have been published and broadcast variously and I am now concentrating on writing Young Adult novels.
I write and publish as John Irving Clarke.
Broadcasts and Publications
Short stories: Published in Nottinghamshire Evening Post, Yorkshire Ridings magazine and Mansfield Chronicle Advertiser; Broadcast on BBC Radio Sheffield, BBC Radio Leeds.
Educational Publications:
Guided Reading pack on Janni Howker’s, The Nature of the Beast, The National Association for the Teaching of English,
Pink Knickers to a Crash Course in Grief: Teachers as Writers, An English Space learning trail for the Training and Development Agency.
Poets in Schools: A Teacher’s Report, B.P. Teachers’ Poetry Resource File, The Poetry Society
Eight articles written for The Times Educational Supplement 2000 – 2006
Rules Kill the Write Stuff, The Times Educational Supplement 22.12.00
Thank God it’s Friday, T.E.S. 20.04.00.
How I Learned to Love the Literacy Strategy. T.E.S. 1.03.02.
Where Angels Fear to Tread, T.E.S. 1.03.02.
A Persuasive Mix of Morals and Marigolds, T.E.S. 04.06.04.
A Tale of Two Stories, T.E.S. 10.12.04.
It’s Not the Clothes but the Way You Wear Them. T.E.S. 27.5.05.
Just Go Where Your Consciences Take You, T.E.S. 6.1.06.
My Great Expectations for Reluctant Learners, T.E.S. 2.12.11
Poetry
Published in the following magazines: Raven, Poetry Monthly, Cutting Teeth, Smith’s Knoll, Retort and Asachi
Anthologised in Read Me at School, Macmillan 2009;
Say it Out Loud, Macmillan 2007,
Disgusting Poems, Scholastic 2004,
One River Many Creeks, Macmillan 2003