Christopher reid biography
Christopher Reid
Often associated with the short-lived Martian school of the 1980s, Christopher Reid’s poetry has come a long way since the extra-terrestrial metaphors and puzzling imagery that were the hallmark of his early writing. His gift for unusual, typically comic description has never deserted him, just as a weightlifter in Arcadia (1979), his debut book of poems, is ‘glazed, like a mantelpiece frog’, as he ‘strains to become // the World Champion (somebody, answer it!) / Human Telephone’, a more recent piece from 2012’s Nonsense, his eleventh collection, finds ‘a bee gang carrying out a spot raid / on the tight-squeeze flowers / of a shaken sage-bush’. But over the course of 30 years, his flair for novel conceits and witty observations has been complemented by a deepening, at times meditative seriousness, and an unrivalled emotional range. No collection exemplifies this better than A Scattering (2009), Reid’s honest, undeceived and heartbreaking account of the loss of his wife, the actor Lucinda Gane, to long-term illness. ‘It is undeniably tender’, the poet and publisher Craig Raine has noted, ‘an important and touching subject, and work of great, unobtrusive skill’.
Reid was born in 1949 in Hong Kong. After education at boarding schools in the Home Counties and at Oxford, he moved to London, where he still lives. He has worked variously as a university lecturer, freelancer, and most notably as poetry editor at publishing house Faber and Faber, where he helped rejuvenate a flagging list in the 1990s with new talents such as Simon Armitage, Lavinia Greenlaw and Don Paterson. Alongside his day jobs, Reid’s own poetry has quietly asserted its quality over the years. Katerina Brac (1985), a series of ‘translations’ after an invented Eastern European woman poet, is now heralded as something of a minor masterpiece, demonstrating a delicate suggestiveness American rapper (born 1964) Musical artist Christopher Reid (born April 5, 1964), formerly known as Kid (shortened from his original MC name, Kid Coolout), is an American rapper, singer and actor. During the peak of his career with the rap duo Kid 'n Play, with Christopher Martin, Reid was notable for both his seven-inch, vertical hi-top fade and freckles. Reid was born in The Bronx, New York, to a Jamaican father (1928–2019) and an Irish mother (1930–1973). He graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1982. He also graduated in 1986 from Lehman College in the Bronx with his B.A. in English after first attending Miles College. He is best known as one half of late-1980s/early-1990s hip hop musical act Kid 'n Play with fellow rapper/actor Christopher "Play" Martin. Reid was particularly notable for his extremely large hi-top fade hairstyle. Reid has appeared on a number of television programs, including Martin and Sister, Sister, and has served as the host of amateur contest shows, such as Your Big Break and It's Showtime at the Apollo. Reid tours as a stand-up comedian. Reid's most recent musical contribution has been writing the theme song to HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. He also appeared on the VH1 reality magician game show Celebracadabra in 2008. Pursuing a solo career, he released a music video for a song called "Why Don't You Stay", on which he raps and sings. He appeared in The Asylum's film War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave, a sequel to H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds. He has been a guest on The Dawn and Drew Show, Comics Unleashed, New England Sports Network's Comedy All-Stars, and Slanted Comedy. He played the role of The Rhymer on the TV series Supah Ninjas. He also appears in LMFAO's video for "Sorry for Party Rocking". In 2012, he broke into voice-over work in the military shooter video game Spec British poet, essayist, cartoonist, and writer Christopher John Reid, FRSL (born 13 May 1949) is a British poet, essayist, cartoonist, and writer. In January 2010 he won the 2009 Costa Book Award for A Scattering, written as a tribute to his late wife, the actress Lucinda Gane. Beside winning the poetry category, Reid became the first poet to take the overall Costa Book of the Year since Seamus Heaney in 1999. He had been nominated for Whitbread Awards in 1996 and in 1997 (Costa Awards under their previous name). Reid was born in Hong Kong. A contemporary of Martin Amis, he was educated at Tonbridge School and Exeter College, Oxford. He is an exponent of Martian poetry, which employs unusual metaphors to render everyday experiences and objects unfamiliar. He has worked as poetry editor at Faber and Faber and Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Hull. .Christopher Reid (rapper)
Life and career
Christopher Reid (writer)
Biography
Books