Chris Fewings is a writer, educator, and poetry geek in Birmingham, England.
“I wouldn’t claim the title of poet for myself, but that’s what other people call me. I also write short fiction, memoir, reflective pieces and lyric essays. Since 2015, I’ve provided hundreds of creative writing workshops in my local neighbourhood, online, and for the NHS.
“I love sharing my scribblings with other writers and readers, for enjoyment or comment, and reading theirs. I’ve also mentored or given in-depth one-to-one feedback to a good number of other creative writers on their poetry and fiction.
“I fell in love with many of the poems I found in books in my mid-teens, and started to learn them by heart. I sometimes perform these at events, bringing them to life with my voice. For years, I ran a weekly drop-in at Balsall Heath library where we would enjoy reading poems which others had written and published.
“I began writing and sharing my own little poems in my mid-thirties. Some have appeared in magazines. In 2020, I selected and polished a few hundred of them to create a book. I published a shorter revised version of this in 2021, A Place to Keep My Shadow. I’ve often read my work to an audience, in a variety of settings. And I’ve collaborated with artists and musicians.
“In 2020 I gained an M.A. with distinction in Creative Writing, but as a poet I am self-taught. My M.A. projects included fiction, creative non-fiction, and a labyrinthine hybrid piece. (As a child and young man, I often lost myself in novels.)
“I’ve worked in Latin American villages and on British farms. I set up and ran Balsall Heath Jungle for 6 years – a community environmental project which focused on inner city fruit trees. And for ten years I taught English to adults who had grown up in other countries.
“I learned to walk, and talk and read and write English (my mother tongue) in Ghana, where I spent most of my first seven years. Sadly I only know one word of Twi, but I speak Spanish fluently, and dabble in other languages: words fascinate me. Though I’m more isolated now, my life has been enriched beyond measure by all my interactions with people from different cultures and backgrounds, my growing children, and my frail elderly parents. ‘I am because we are.’
“I have many skills and many limitations. I manage projects unconventionally, but am no longer ashamed of not meeting society’s standards. And I live with complex hidden disability on a low income. I’m a proud misfit, who has tried to live sustainably and justly.”
Chris Fewings Duggan, B.Sc., M.A.