Graeme K. Talboys
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
| Graeme K. Talboys | |
|---|---|
| Born | Graeme Keith Talboys |
| Pen name | Keith Graeme Greywind |
| Nationality | British |
| Genre | Fiction and Non-fiction |
Graeme K Talboys is an English writer and teacher.
Contents
Life
Graeme Keith Talboys was born in Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith on Thursday 26 November 1953. The family lived in a flat on the edge of Richmond Park and he spent the first five years of his life there.
On his fifth birthday the family moved to Norfolk. They settled first in Sprowston where Talboys attended the Sprowston Infant School before moving on to the old Junior School. Another move took the family a few miles to Thorpe Hamlet where Talboys completed his junior education at the Wolfe Road Junior School.
Having passed his 11-plus, he went to the City of Norwich School, a place he is said to have loathed. Not only had he been separated from his friends, but he was subject to bullying. It was during this period of isolation in which he took particular comfort in books and writing, setting him on a path he has never left. He also spent a great deal of time exploring the city and spent many hours in its museums and library.
A final move during his childhood years took the family to Peacehaven in Sussex and Talboys found himself enrolled at the Lewes County Grammar School for Boys (LCGS). This was much more to his liking and he settled well and made many friends. There, he was a contemporary of luminaries such as Tom Morley, Pete Thomas, Eric Goulden, Andrew Ranken, and Stephen Warbeck. Given the concentration of musical talent, Talboys puts his adherence to a writing path down to the fact he has two left ears.
In September 1969, the LCGS ceased to exist. It had been amalgamated with Lewes Secondary Modern and the Lewes County Grammar School for Girls to form Lewes Priory School. Whilst not an exceptional scholar, the atmosphere of the school, the locale, and the times conspired to nurture Talboys' creative talents.
Beyond school, Talboys immersed himself in the cultural life of his contemporaries, taking a keen interest in folklore and the folk scene in the Lewes area as well as the more urban literary scene that centred on the Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton and the wider contemporary music scene. He attended many concerts and festivals from Phun City to the Isle of Wight.
In 1972, Talboys started a three-year course at St Peter's College of Education in Saltley, Birmingham. There he studied Drama and Theatre Arts and graduated in 1975 with a Certificate in Education (Pass with Credit).
His first teaching job was at Madeley Court School in Telford New Town. There he was a teacher of Drama and English. Other teaching posts followed in Lancashire and East Sussex before ill-health forced him to give up.
During the three years he was unable to work, he studied with the Open University and gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy and education. His return to work began with a post in the Open University's Community Education programme.
He then moved to the Sussex Archaeological Society as an Education Officer and museum assistant, based in the Society's properties in Lewes From there he took up the post of Senior Education Officer at the Bede Monastery Museum in Jarrow (now Bede's World). Whilst there he ran the highly successful and award winning education programme with the help of an enthusiastic, committed, and talented staff.
A move to Scotland saw the resumption of various health problems and his early retirement from museum education work. He now lives in Scotland with his wife and some cats (as well as 5 million Scots).
Writing
Graeme Talboys had siblings seven years older than him and he learned to read and write at an early age. There were always papers, magazines and books in the house and he was encouraged to read as much as possible. As soon as he realised that you could make up your own stories, he began to write them down.
Although he read and enjoyed all the usual children's books, he also took delight in the adult books available to him. By the time he was eleven he was happily reading titles from his mother's Companion Book Club collection. He also had an adult library ticket, although this had been given on the proviso he only borrow non-fiction (presumably to protect him from the sort of thing he was already reading at home).
The move to Sussex and the onset of teenage years led to a switch from derivative stories (what might be termed fan-fiction these days) to the writing of poetry. Whilst much of this was, by his own admission, garbage, it did settle him into the habit of writing every day and experimenting with the use of words.
When he discovered 'New Worlds' magazine and underground press publications such as International Times and Oz, he felt immediately at home. They opened his eyes to writers he might otherwise never have heard of and led to an appreciation of any writer prepared to experiment with and explore both the form and the content of literary work.
By the time he went to college, Talboys had written three novels, many pieces of short fiction and thousands of poems. It was inevitable that, in studying Drama, he went on to write a number of stage plays (some of them performed) as well as screen- and tele-plays.
His first published pieces were generally non-fiction, appearing in various magazines of a political and spiritual nature. This encouraged him to try more mainstream publications and eventually led to his first contract for a full-length book. Since then he has had a number of non-fiction and fiction works published.
He is represented by Leslie Gardner of Artellus Ltd.
Bibliography
Non-fiction
- Using Museums as an Educational Resource
- Museum Educator's Handbook
- Museum Educator's Handbook (Chinese language edition)
- the Voice within the Wind – of Becoming and the Druid Way (writing as Greywind)
- Aaargh!! to Zizz – 135 Drama Games
- the Path through the Forest – a Druid Guidebook (with Julie White)
- Arianrhod's Dance – a Druid Ritual Handbook (with Julie White)
- Way of the Druid
- The Druid Way Made Easy
- Paganism 101 by 101 Pagans (contributory essay)
- Naming the Goddess (contributory essay)
Fiction
- True Millennium
- Wealden Hill
- Thin Reflections (book one of the 'Storm Light' tetralogy)
- Stormwrack (short stories from the 'Storm Light' sequence, illustrated by Carol Burns)
- Shadow in the Storm - The Chronicles of Jeniche of Antar
- 1 - Stealing into Winter
as Editor
- First Class: Early Works of the Nearly Famous – Orchid Station
Projects involved with
- Into the Media Web by Michael Moorcock
- Sojan the Swordsman by Michael Moorcock (in Sojan the Swordsman/Under the Warrior Star by Michael Moorcock and Joe R. Lansdale)
Forthcoming
- Shadow in the Storm - The Chronicles of Jeniche of Antar
- 2 - Exile and Pilgrim
- 3 - Players of the Game
- 4 - Thunder on the Mountain
