Nearly Forty

David Harrison was born in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England but spent half his life in London and South East England before moving to Sydney, Australia in 1981 and becoming an Australian citizen.After retiring from a career in scientific research which entailed writing and publishing many scientific papers and reports, David decided he'd like to try his hand at creative writing and took a course with the poet Kate Llewellyn. With Kate's encouragement he started writing poetry. He was a member of the Central Coast Poets from 2004 until moving to Canberra in 2022 and had poems published in their anthologies, as well as in Five Bells and Quadrant magazine. His poem "Poor Man Hiro" was awarded second prize in the Henry Kendal Poetry Award 2012 and his poem "In Praise of Grey" was awarded first prize in the Free Verse Category competition of the University of the Third Age, Sunshine Coast. His first book of poems, "Songs of the Exile" was published with Ginninderra Press in 2017.