Angela Topping (born 2 October 1954) is an English poet, literary critic and author. She has published eight solo poetry collections: Dandelions for Mothers' Day (1988, 1989), The Fiddle (1999), The Way We Came (2007), The New Generation (Salt 2010), I Sing of Bricks (Salt 2011), Paper Patterns (Lapwing 2012), Letting Go (Mother's Milk Press 2013) and The Five Petals of Elderflower (Red Squirrel Press 2016).
Life and writings
Topping (nee Lightfoot) was born in Widnes, Lancashire (now Cheshire), to working-class parents. She was educated in Liverpool at Broughton Hall Grammar School for Girls. After graduating from the University of Liverpool with a degree in English and Classical Civilization, she went on to study for a postgraduate degree in Victorian Studies. Although writing from a young age (she first published poetry at the age of 19 in Arts Alive Merseyside), Topping got married and raised two daughters while writing her first two collections and editing two poetry anthologies. The first of these was a collection of Christian writing, and the second a festschrift[1] for the Liverpool-based poet Matt Simpson,[2] featuring works by U. A. Fanthorpe, Anne Stevenson, Roger McGough and Kenneth Muir. The friendship of Matt Simpson was a formative influence on her and continued until his death in 2009.
After working in education for 20 years, notably at Upton Hall School FCJ, Topping now concentrates full-time on writing and has written several critical works for the publisher Greenwich Exchange.
In 2010, Topping teamed up with textile artist Maria Walker.[3][4] Together they produced a joint exhibition of work based on The Lightfoot Letters, which were family epistles from 1923, which bizarrely had been written by Angela's father's family and purchased by Maria from an antique shop several years before she met Angela. The exhibition was first staged at The Brindley in 2011 and has since been shown in other galleries in the North West, as well as Stanza, the Scottish International Poetry Festival, in 2014.[5]
Topping has also been in a number of notable anthologies, such as Split Screen, edited by Andy Jackson and published by Red Squirrel (2012).[6][7] and Troubles Swapped for Something Fresh (Salt 2009) edited by Rupert Loydell.[8] One of her poems appeared on National Poetry Day poem cards in 2012.[9] Her children's poems have appeared in over 80 anthologies. In 2011 she was the only poet highly commended in the Cheshire High Sherriff's Prize for Children's Literature.[10] Her poems have been set for A level examination study.[11] In 2013, she was awarded a writer-in-residence post at Gladstone's Library and won first prize in Buzzwords competition, judged by David Morley. In 2018, she was awarded first prize in the Waltraud Field Poetry Competition.
Publications
Poetry collections
Dandelions for Mothers' Day (Stride, 1988 and 1989)
The Fiddle: New and Selected Poems (Stride, 1999)
The Way We Came (Bluechrome, 2007)
The New Generation (Salt, 2010) – children's poetry
I Sing of Bricks (Salt Modern Voices, 2011)
Catching On, an elegiac sequence for Matt Simpson (Rack Press, 2011)
Kids' Stuff (Erbacce, 2011) – children's poetry
The Lightfoot Letters (for a joint exhibition of textile art with Maria Walker, Erbacce, 2011)
Paper Patterns (Lapwing, 2012)
Letting Go (Mother's Milk Books, 2013)
Hearth (with poet Sarah James, Mother's Milk Books, 2015)
The Five Petals of Elderflower (Red Squirrel Press, 2016)
Critical works
Focus on Spies by Michael Frayn (Greenwich Exchange, 2008)
Focus on The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter (Greenwich Exchange, 2009)
Focus on Selected Poems by John Clare – Everyman Edition, (2015)
Editions
The Least Thing (foreword by George Szirtes, Stride, 1989)
Making Connections, a Festschrift for Matt Simpson (Stride, 1996)
Manchester Poets Competition Anthologies I and II
Brando's Hat editorial board
Co-editor of The Robin Hood Book (Poets against Austerity) with Alan Morrison (Caparison, 2012)[12]
Co-editor of Sculpted, Poetry of the North West with Lindsey Holland (NWP 2013)[13]
References
^Making connections: a festschrift for Matt Simpson, ed. Angela Topping, Exeter, Stride Publications, 1996
