Some Facts:
Rich Goodson grew up in Nottingham, UK, and now lives in Belper, Derbyshire, with his husband and a dog. He read English at St.Edmund Hall, Oxford.
Rich spent 27 years teaching teenage and adult refugees in an inner-city FE college.
He now works in private practice as a counsellor (www.richgoodsontherapy.com) specialising in men's and LGBTQ+ mental health, and forest- / eco- therapy.
He's a dharma-teacher-in-training with the Kwan Um School of Zen, an ancient Korean Buddhist lineage.
His poems and lyrical essays often explore masculinity, 'foreignness' and identity and can be placed in a tradition which asks: "What does it mean to be embodied - sexually, psychologically and spiritually - in resistance to society - and how do we survive?"
He's involved in an ongoing translation project / collaboration with the Chinese poet-sculptor Xiguan Lei.
He taught Creative Writing workshops in schools, colleges, universities, community groups and prisons for 30 years. But these days he's more likely to be leading outdoor meditations in The Peak District, Derbyshire UK.
Publications :
2 poems in the anthology 'The Penguin Poetry of Sex', ed. Sophie Hannah (2016).
Début pamphlet, 'Mr Universe', published by Eyewear Books (2017): awarded 'Autumn 2017 Pamphlet Choice' by The Poetry Book Society.
2 poems in the Emma Press anthology 'In Transit: Poems of Travel', ed. Sarah Jackson and Tim Youngs (2018).
1 poem in 'The Best New British And Irish Poets 2019-2021', ed. Nick Makoha (Eyewear Publishing, 2021)
He's also had work in The Interpreter's House, Ambit and other magazines...
Competitions:
Winner of Freedom From Torture's poetry competition (2022) with his poem 'Kora'.
Also a poem longlisted in the UK's National Poetry Competition (2024)
Other Things You Might Want To Know:
In 1998 he completed a Masters in Writing (Lifewriting and Fiction) at Nottingham Trent University.
In 2008 he started Nottingham Stanza, now the longest-running contemporary poetry reading group in the U.K.
In 2012 he completed a Doctorate in Writing (Poetry) at Nottingham Trent University.
In 2013 he founded Word Jam (now 'World Jam'), a collective of poets and musicians whose first language is other than English.
In 2017 he worked with an African women refugees' group in Nottingham, leading weekly Creative Writing workshops. This resulted in a toolkit for teachers and writers who want to do similar work. It was sent to all the UNESCO Cities of Literature and can be downloaded: HERE.
His poems can also be found on a live album called 'Out On A Limb' with the improv / experimental jazz duo Tunc (Wayne Rex and Dave Jackson) on www.muteantsoundsnetlabel.bandcamp.com
He's on Instagram on three different profiles: rich.goodson, richgoodsontherapy and zen_in_belper
