Gary Bills

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Gary Bills is a contemporary English poet. He has published two full collections of his own work and has edited an international anthology. Titles to his credit include:

1. "The Echo and the Breath" (Peterloo, 2001)
2. "The Ridiculous Nests of the Heart" (bluechrome, 2003)
3. "The Review of Contemporary Poetry" (bluechrome, 2005).

This anthology was edited by Bills as a snapshot of English language verse from 2004, and it contains fresh verse from Andrew Motion, Brian Patten, Harry Guest, Al Alvarez, Penelope Shuttle and many other high profile names from the contemporary poetry world. It was marketed specifically to raise funds for the Stroke Association.

Bills's own poetry tends to be both experimental and formal, with a strong emphasis on imagery and lyricism.

A religious or spiritual tendency is perhaps more evident in his first collection, and his later work is more personal, with a number of poems concerned with family life and fatherhood.

His work has been favourably reviewed in many high-profile literary journals in the UK, including Envoi, Orbis, The Black Mountain Review and South.

His poetry has also been published in the national UK newspaper, "The Guardian". Bills has given readings at "The Ledbury Poetry Festival" and also at the "Poetry on the Lake" event at Lake Orta in Italy.

He has won several prizes, including the Bill Winter Award, administered by Poetry on the Lake for the best short poem.

He is the associate editor of the international poetry journal, "HQ".

Alongside John Hartley Williams, he was a judge of the 2007 Poetry on the Lake poetry competition.