About Tony Mitton

Think about a little everyday thing and give it a twist. Tony Mitton can twist a poem out of hat, or some string or a bit of crumpled tissue. Quite a few of his poems are about things that are very small, or that grow to become very big. What if you had some elephants as small as ants? What if you didn’t stop growing?
Sometimes he thinks about a fairy story or a folk tale, and gives that a bit of a twist.

Sometimes he writes longer poems that tell a story. And sometimes one of those poems grows to fill a whole book – like The Red and White Spotted Handkerchief.

Tony reads his poems in a thoughtful, careful way. Listen to the two poems about growing, and hear how he makes the poem grow with his voice.

Tony’s poetry has strong rhythm and rhymes. He also likes to try out different forms. So amongst his poems you will find ballads, sonnets, raps, haikus – and something called a villanelle!

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Tony’s father was in the British Army so his family were often on the move. As a child he lived in North African, Hong Kong and Germany. Tony began writing poems as a child, and was also good at telling stories. He went to a boarding school in England, where he became known as a good storyteller.

When Tony had his own children, he started writing poems to amuse them.

Tony's recording was made on the 28th February 2012 at The Soundhouse in London, and the producer was Anne Rosenfeld.

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Selected Bibliography

Plum, Barn Owl Books, 1998

My Hat and All That, Corgi Yearling, 2006

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