Paul Hullah
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Paul William Hullah (born June 26, 1963) is an English writer who has published several volumes of poetry, short stories, and literary criticism, as well as a series of EFL textbooks for university students in Japan and, recently, articles in several academic journals in the field of TEFL. He was born in Ripon, North Yorkshire, but now lives in Kyushu, Japan. Prior to this he lived and worked for over a decade as a music and arts journalist in Edinburgh, Scotland, whilst simultaneously achieving a PhD from the University of Edinburgh. Hullah was an active figure in the Edinburgh underground arts and music scene during the 1980s, with one of his many commercially unsuccessful bands, Teenage Dog Orgy, nevertheless hailed as 'legendary' by the NME (New Musical Express). He moved to Japan in 1992 and is currently Associate Professor of English at Miyazaki National University, Japan.
And Here's What You Could Have Won (Dionysia Press: Edinburgh, UK, 1997), Hullah's award-winning first book-length collection of poetry, attracted critical praise, with reviewers variously noting echoes of W. S. Graham, John Ashbery and Christina Rossetti in the layered lyrical pieces. His second collection, Let Me Sing My Song (Dionysia, 2000) contained more confessional poetry, though retaining the wit and collisions of imagery of earlier work. Unquenched, a slim volume of haiku in English, illustrated by the Scottish artist Susan Mowatt, was published by Afterdays Press, Scotland, in 2002.[1]
Critics' comments on Hullah's work:
- ‘Paul Hullah’s poems are unlike any others today. They are not only very good but very direct and moving. Love’s Long Journey is an example. And they possess a shapeliness and clarity that other poets today might envy. Their beauty is as enigmatic as it is straightforward.’
- John Bayley[2]
- ‘Fine poems… some with an enchantment that touches me deeply.’
- Iris Murdoch[3]
- 'Why isn't Paul Hullah's verse better known?… He often deals with poignantly transient erotic relationships, within a European tradition that goes back to the troubadours. He does so with modesty and wry humour… His rhythms suggest on one hand rock lyrics, on the other the virtuoso technical versatility of Romantic and post-Romantic nineteenth century writers. But his conversational personality is very much his own. I think that only a very stuffy or bigoted proponent of some other kind of poetry could resist that candid, rueful, singing personality.'
- Angus Calder[4]
Hullah is 43 years old. 'Age's Bullets', a new volume of poems was published in 2006 by Vagabond Press, Sydney, Australia.
[edit] References
- ^ Unquenched, Afterdays, Edinburgh 2002, ISBN 0-9542718-0-7
- ^ cover blurb, And Here's What You could Have Won, Dionysia Press, Edinburgh, 1997, ISBN 0-9522341-22
- ^ back cover blurb, Let Me Sing My Song, Dionysia Press, Edinburgh, 2000, ISBN 1-903171-01-6
- ^ Review, in Understanding Literary Magazine, Edinburgh, Autumn 1998
