Tony Mitton

Tony Mitton Tony Mitton is a poet and children’s writer. The son of a soldier in the British Army, he was born abroad in Tripoli in 1951 where his father was stationed. After a childhood spent mostly abroad until the age of 9, he eventually attended a state boarding grammar school for boys, Woolverstone Hall School, Suffolk, and then went on to take a degree in English Literature at Gonville and Caius College, University of Cambridge, and a PGCE in the teaching of English at secondary level. Preferring the ethos of the primary school, he went on to teach as a primary class teacher and in due course a Special Needs Learning Support Teacher, specialising in children with literacy difficulties and later also children presenting difficult behaviours in mainstream settings. He read and wrote poetry from an early age and this continued throughout his teaching career. His teaching developed in him an interest in and familiarity with poetry for children in particular and literature for children in general. This interest deepened further when he became a father and went part-time to spend more time at home with his children in their early years. His first attempts at writing for children were poems written for, and sometimes about, his own two children. Before long he was submitting poems to anthologies and eventually seeking a publisher for a collection of his own poems. By his 40s he was regularly being published in anthologies, writing poems and short prose texts for educational reading schemes and seeking publication both as a poet and writer of children’s picture books. In 1996 a humorous verse narrative called ‘Little Red Rap’ secured him his agent Gina Pollinger. This became one of the texts of his first solo trade publication ‘Big Bad Raps’ (Orchard Books, 1996) leading to the 12 book series ‘Rap Rhymes’ (illustrated by Martin Chatterton). His first collection of poems, ‘Plum’ (Scholastic, 1998) came out to wide acclaim and featured as a Guardian Children’s Book of the Week. David Fickling, the editor who helped to choose the selection of poems for this, went on to publish several more Tony Mitton poetry books, consisting of lyric and narrative verse and illustrated by Peter Bailey. In due course Tony became known for his poems and his verse picture books many of which sold well in USA and in co-editions globally. Shortly before the age of 50 he retired from teaching in order to become a full-time freelance writer, living off the sales of his various works and supplementing this with fees for performing his work in schools, libraries and at literature festivals. From the age of 60 he began to reduce the amount of performing he did in order to focus primarily on writing itself. This remains the case at 65, the time of writing of this feature. Awards: Tony has received several significant awards and recommendations for his work as a poet and children’s writer. Some are listed here : Prizes and Awards / Tony Mitton 1997 Nottinghamshire Children's Book Award for: Royal Raps 1999 Experian Big 3 Award (Nottingham based) for: Fangtastic Raps 1998 Guardian Children's Book of the Week for: Plum 2000, Smarties Silver Award Winner for: The Red & White Spotted Handkerchief 2001 Poetry Book Society Choice for: Fluff & other stuff 2001 Poetry Book Society Choice for: Pip 2004 CLPE Honour List for Children's Poetry Award : The Tale of Tales 2005 Sheffield Children's Book Award (Picture Book Category) : Spookyrumpus 2006 Dundee International Book Award (Picture Book Category) : Spookyrumpus 2006 Portsmouth Children's Book Award for: Spookyrumpus 2007 CLPE Honour List for Children's Poetry Award for : My Hat and All That 2014 CLPE Poetry Award Winner for : Wayland Websites and other sources: Tony has two websites. One features his work as a poet for children and children’s author. This is at : www.tonymitton.co.uk The other features some of his work as an adult poet. This is at : www.tonymittonpoet.co.uk You will also find his work as a poet for children on The Poetry Archive, a website set up by former poet laureate Andrew Motion. The entry on him there is written by the poet Helen Ivory. There are also many references to and reviews of his work on the internet. An internet search will bring such things up. Tony Mitton / List of main publications Poetry Collections and works of narrative verse: Plum, Scholastic 1998 (illus Peter Bailey) A Door to Secrets/Riddles in Rhyme, CUP 1998 (illus David Parkins) The Seal Hunter, David Fickling 1998 (illus Nick Maland) The Red and White Spotted Handkerchief, Scholastic 2000 (illus Peter Bailey) I want to shout and stamp about, Wayland 2000 (illus Mike Gordon) Pip, Scholastic 2001 (illus Peter Bailey) Fluff, Orchard 2001 (illus Philip Hopman) The Tale of Tales, David Fickling 2003 (poetry and prose) (illus Peter Bailey) Riddledy Piggledy, David Fickling 2004 (illus Paddy Mounter) My Hat and all that, David Fickling/Random House/Corgi 2006 (illus Sue Heap) The Storyteller’s Secrets, David Fickling 2009 (poetry and prose) (illus Peter Bailey) Come Into This Poem, Frances Lincoln 2011 (illus Caroline Holden) Bumblebees, Sweets and a See-Through Stomach, Pearson 2012 (with Brian Patten) (illus Colin Jack and Robert Dunn) Wayland, David Fickling 2013 (illus. John Lawrence) Narrative Verse Series: Rap Rhymes Series, Orchard 1996--2001 10 books: Big Bad Raps, Royal Raps, Fangtastic Raps, Monster Raps, Robin Hood Raps, Scary Raps, Mega Greek Myth Raps, Groovy Greek Hero Raps, Mighty Greek Myth Raps & Great Greek Myth Raps. Illustrated by Martin Chatterton. Crazy Camelot Capers Series, Orchard 2003—2004, 8 books: King Arthur and the Mighty Contest, Excalibur the Magic Sword, Sir Lancelot and the Black Knight, Sir Galahad and the Grail, Morgana the Spooky Sorceress, Big Sir B and the Monster Maid, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Mean Mordred and the Final Battle. Illustrated by Arthur Robins. Verse Picture Books Series: Amazing Machines Series, Kingfisher Macmillan 1997—2016 ongoing, 12 books, illustrated by Ant Parker: Dazzling Diggers, Roaring Rockets, Flashing Fire Engines, Terrific Trains, Amazing Aeroplanes, Brilliant Boats, Tremendous Tractors, Tough Trucks, Super Submarines, Cool Cars, Marvellous Motorbikes, Hovering Helicopters. Amazing Animals Series, Kingfisher Macmillan 2009—2010, 4 books, illustrated by Ant Parker: Rainforest Romp, Super Safari, Ocean Odyssey, Fantastic Forest. Untitled Series illustrated by Guy Parker-Rees, Orchard 2001—2016, 10 books: Down by the Cool of the Pool, Bumpus Jumpus Dinosaurumpus, Spookyrumpus, Come to Tea on Planet Zum-Zee (aka Alien Tea on Planet Zum-Zee), All Afloat on Noah’s Boat, Perky Little Penguins, Farmer Joe and the Music Show, Jolly Olly Octopus, The Jungle Run, Twist and Hop Minibeast Bop. Flip-the-Flap Books, Walker Books 1996—2000, Where’s My Egg (illus Jane Chapman), Spooky Hoo-Haa! (illus Daniel Postgate), What’s the Time, Mr Wolf? (illus Harry Horse), Goldilocks and the Three Bears (illus Liz Million), Little Red Riding Hood (illus Liz Million). Individual verse Picture Books: Gnash, Gnaw, Dinosaur! Poetry flap-book illustrated by Lynne Chapman, Kingfisher 2009 Rumble, Roar, Dinosaur! Poetry flap-book illustrated by Lynne Chapman, Kingfisher 2010 Goodnight Me, Goodnight You, (illus Mandy Sutcliffe), Orchard 2003 A Very Curious Bear, (illus Paul Howard), Orchard 2008 Sir Laughalot, (illus Sarah Warburton), Orchard 2010 Christmas Wishes, (illus Layn Marlow), Orchard 2007 Party Animals (aka Jungle Jive), (illus David Wojtowycz), Alison Green Books 2007 The Somethingosaur, (illus Russell Ayto), Harpercollins Once Upon A Tide, (illus Selina Young), David Fickling Books 2005 Snow Bear, (illus Alison Brown), Bloomsbury 2015 (2 more titles in this series are in production) Works in progress: At the time of recording these facts (2016) Tony has several verse picture books in progress. He is also collating his mostly unpublished adult poems into viable volumes for future publication. Tony has also written 16 new English language verse texts for the globally popular Miffy series by the Dutch writer/illustrator Dick Bruna. This work was done between 2010—2015 to update the verse texts for a modern English speaking readership. From 1990 onwards Tony has contributed many poems to a wide range of trade market poetry anthologies, as well as to educational magazines such as Scholastic Education, Nursery Education et al. He has also written in the region of 70+ educational reading books for schools’ reading series, in both prose and verse. Many of his verse picture books have gone into co-editions with foreign publishers. Some of his American versions have altered titles and adjusted texts, while being substantially the same as the original British versions.