Brian Patten

Brian Patten (1946-2025) was born in Liverpool. His poetry first appeared in the bestselling Penguin collection The Mersey Sound in 1967 (with Roger McGough and the late Adrian Henri) which has now been reissued as a Penguin Modern Classic.

Among his individual collections are Little Johnny's Confession; Notes To The Hurrying Man The Irrelevant Song; Vanishing Trick; Grave Gossip and Armada. He was the editor of The Puffin Book of Modern Children's Verse and his poetry for children includes the highly popular collections Gargling With Jelly; Thawing Frozen Frogs, and Juggling With Gerbils.

He won numerous awards, including The Cholmondeley Award for Poetry, and a special award from the Mystery Writers of America Guild for his Children's novel, Mr Moon's Last Case. In 2002 he was honoured with the Freedom of the City of Liverpool and, in 2003, he was elected as Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.