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Jane Tozer Jane Tozer was born in 1949, and grew up in an old schoolhouse in the churchyard at Sturminster Newton. The north Dorset landscape was redolent of Thomas Hardy. Her early poetic ambition was encouraged by her father. She has a degree in English from Cambridge University (New Hall), where she was a college exhibitioner. The 12th century classic, the Lais of Marie de France, was part of a paper on the period 1066-1350. In the late 1960s, the only available translation was outdated, bowdlerized and written in a flowery pseudo-mediaeval style. At the age of 20, Jane felt "Even I could do better than that!" She finally took up the challenge in May 2002. Jane began translating as a exercise to zap writer's block, and found herself enjoying her childhood gift for rhyming. She was granted an Artists' Award from Arts Council England South West, to complete her version of the Lais of Marie de France. Extracts from Knights of Love have won prizes in the John Dryden and Stephen Spender competitions. Jane's version of a poem by François Villon won the 2006 Stephen Spender Prize for poetry in translation. From 1972-85, Jane was a museum curator at Warwick, Glasgow and Manchester; she specialised in costume and social history, which explains the arcane vocabulary and odd facts that pervade her writing. Her modern poetry uses borrowed voices, narrative, theatrical effects. The poems draw on her experiences on archaeological digs and as an English teacher in Finland. Love and landscape are recurring themes. Since 1986, Jane has lived in Cornwall. She was chair of Falmouth Poetry Group 1999-2005. In summer, she interprets legend and history as a part-time castle guide at St. Michael's Mount. She lives on a small-holding near Helston with her husband Tony Phillips-Smith, who uncannily resembles her illustrator, Apsley. for readings and future events - click here
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