'DEAR PALACE OF CULTURE, GET MY DAD OUT OF JAIL'.‘People warn you against the profession of poet, Also against playing the flute, the drums, the violin, Because riffraff of this sort So often tend toward drinking and frivolity.’(Hermann Hesse)Born in Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne, where he has worked as a community development worker, poet, librarian and publisher, Keith Armstrong, now residing in the seaside town of Whitley Bay, is coordinator of the Northern Voices creative writing and community publishing project which specialises in recording the experiences of people in the North East of England. He was founder of Ostrich poetry magazine, Poetry North East, Tyneside Writers' Workshop, Tyneside Poets, East Durham Writers' Workshop, Tyneside Trade Unionists for Socialist Arts, Tyneside Street Press and the Strong Words and Durham Voices community publishing series. He has recently compiled and edited books on the Durham Miners Gala and on the former mining communities of County Durham and the market town of Hexham.He has been a self-employed writer since 1986 and has just been awarded a doctorate for his work on Newcastle writer Jack Common at the University of Durham where he received a BA Honours Degree in Sociology in 1995 and Masters Degree in 1998 for his studies on regional culture in the North East of England. He was Year of the Artist 2000 poet-in-residence at Hexham Races.In his youth, he travelled to Paris to seek out the grave of poet Charles Baudelaire and he has been making cultural pilgrimages abroad ever since.He has toured to Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Poland, Iceland (including readings during the Cod War), Denmark, France, Germany (including readings at the Universities of Hamburg, Kiel, Oldenburg, Trier and Tuebingen), Hungary, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Czech Republic, The Netherlands, the United States, Cuba, Jamaica and Kenya. His poetry has been translated into Dutch, German, Russian, Italian, Icelandic and Czech.MOST RECENT COMMENTS:'You give people like me the confidence to believe in ourselves and get out there. Terrific.' (Catherine Graham).'Keith Armstrong is a bard who has the knack of writing real songs. That’s why every place is named, why the names of persons he grants an appearance in verse are correct, why his poems have historical causes and sometimes take historic shape, just like the performance. Historic. But one should, while laughing, never forget: this poet is someone who in his biography and work inseparably unites wit and long gained knowledge, enthusiasm and great talent, pluck and social commitment....This is a man who conquers, with his poems and charms, pubs as well as universities. He has always been an instigator and an actor in social and literary projects, an activist without whom the exchanges between the twin towns of Durham and Tübingen would be a much quieter affair. That he is a friend of many friends, able to open the most amazing doors for his guests, can be taken as read. Keith Armstrong’s songs of a sensitive self in an ugly world and of a beautiful world in an unfathomable self are capable of opening the hearts of listeners and readers.' (Uwe Kolbe, Berlin poet). 'Thanks for last night mate, it was great. I loved that poem about Wallace's right arm.' (Dave Douglass).'Dear Dr Armstrong,'I'm messaging you now, simply to say thank you! Having discovered your work some time ago now, i have become a regular visitor to your space and a keen fan. It's because of you and your work that i took up writing again and have begun to actively seek publication. I whole heartedly thank you!' (Matt "The Rover" Routledge) 'Keith Armstrong certainly hasn't been spending his time cataloguing his prizes...... He has been far too busy having a good time with a panoply of European women...... It is one of his strong points, in poetry that could be simply pornographic, that he nearly always locates the sexuality in a relationship, however fleeting.' (Michael Standen, Other Poetry).'I knew your name as soon as I saw it....you and Mr. Barber saved my life. The Roker Roar was the beginning of everything for me!' (Viktoria Kay, actress).'Poet and raconteur', an energising and entrepreneurial force in poetry in the North East (and beyond!!).' (Graham Martin, son of William Martin, poet).
