Prominent Durham poet dies suddenly at his home, aged 70

Jun 4 2008 by David Whetstone, The Journal

THE poet Michael Standen, a prominent figure on the North East literary scene, has died suddenly at the age of 70.

His wife Val, with whom he had two sons, Louis and Guy, said he died early on June 1 at home in Durham of what was assumed to be a heart attack. She said her husband had retired 10 years ago as district secretary of the Workers’ Educational Association but was still working for it as a tutor and appears not to have retired in the generally accepted sense of the word.

“He was still teaching, still writing poetry, was still editing Other Poetry magazine and still helping to run Colpitts Poetry,” said Val.

She said he would have liked to be remembered as a writer and a teacher, particularly in adult education, and also as someone who sought to protect the environment.

“He worked very hard for the North East over many years in all sorts of ways,” she said.

Her husband had been born in Essex and had also lived in Nottingham and Cumbria. But he had spent the bulk of the last 50 years in County Durham where he was a champion of poetry.

He was one of four editors of Other Poetry and also one of the driving forces behind Colpitts Poetry which, since 1975, has organised readings in Durham by poets of national and international renown.

One admirer was Peter Mortimer, the Cullercoats writer and founder of IRON Press. He said Michael had been a “very diligent” reviews editor of IRON magazine in its early days. “He took his responsibilities as an editor very seriously,” he added.

They had a bond through poetry but also discovered they had attended the same Nottingham secondary school.

Last year Michael celebrated his 70th birthday with a new collection of poems, Leaves at Midnight, which was published by Shoestring Press.

In an interview with The Journal’s Culture magazine, he said: “England is very strange in its attitude to poetry. On one hand is the attitude that ‘I would rather jump in a lake than go to a poetry reading’. On the other hand, poetry is England’s greatest art form.

“Many people, though they may deny it, are interested in poetry and a good deal of people write it. I can tell you that as the editor of a poetry magazine.”

Michael’s funeral will be on June 12 at 11am at Durham Crematorium.