Description

Admin History:

Tony F. Griffin was born on 11 October 1949 in Richmond, Surrey. He lived predominantly in Hull and Leeds. He opened and ran a book shop in Leeds, Griffin's Books, where he also established a series of poetry readings and was later involved in Flux Gallery Press. He first gained attention as a poet after his work was included in the anthology A Rumoured City: New Poets from Hull (1982), which also contained work by Douglas Dunn and Peter Didsbury amongst others. Around this time, he also contributed poems to various national periodicals on the advice of Philip Larkin. His first major collection of poetry, Cider Days, was published in 1990, followed by his second major book, Kavita, in 2003. In 2010, his work was included in the sequel to Douglas Dunn's 1982 anthology, Old City, New Rumours: A Hull Anthology, and in the same year, a festschrift titled Born Into An Unquiet was published to mark Griffin's 60th birthday. In 2013, Tricycle Songs was published by Flux Gallery Press and in the following year, a collection of previously unpublished poems was printed under the title Moving from the South. At the time of his death on 27 April 2016, he was working with Jules Smith on a project about the Hull Poets called Librarians and Barbarians.

Description:

This collection includes poetry files, poetry notebooks, poetry publications, correspondence files, items relating to the shop 'Griffin's Books', and personal papers relating to Tony F. Griffin. The poetry files contain typed and handwritten poems by T.F. Griffin, and related publicity material. The notebooks contain handwritten draft poems by T.F. Griffin and the publications include poetry books by T.F. Griffin, books edited by T.F. Griffin and poetry magazines featuring poetry by T.F. Griffin. The correspondence files contain letters, postcards and greetings cards sent to T.F. Griffin from various correspondents relating to personal news, news of friends and family, T.F. Griffin's poetry, Flux Gallery Press and poetry in general. Items relating to 'Griffin's Books' include correspondence, invoices, tenancy agreements and cash books, whilst the personal papers include photograph albums, address books, and appointment diaries.