John Haynes

John Haynes has had a long career in education, and was a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University in the 70s and 80s, where he founded the literary journal, Saiwa. After returning to the UK in the 80s he has continued teaching, writing and publishing and his poems have appeared widely. His book length poem Letter to Patience, published by Seren, won the Costa Poetry Prize in 2006 and sections of the work have been published in London Magazine, Stand, Poetry Review, Ambit, Critical Quarterly and Poetry Wales. His second book length poem You (Seren) was shortlisted for the 2010 T.S. Eliot Prize. Haynes is the author of a number of books: on teaching, language theory, African Poetry and stories for African children, as well as two volumes of poetry. He has won prizes in the Arvon and National Poetry Competitions.