Wes Magee

“Poetry is two four-letter words... hard work!”

About Wes Magee

There’s a great deal of variety in Wes’s work – you never know if you’re going to be hearing a story from the school gates or having your bones chilled by a bloodcurdling rhyme full of spooky sounds and ghostly figures. Wes was a wonderful storyteller, with lots of his poems using rhyme and a songlike rhythm to tell their tales about all sorts of people, from little boys and girls to chimney sweeps and teachers – real and imaginary.

Wes was often playful but he could be serious too, and in a poem like ‘Until Gran Died’ he tells a sad story about what it feels like to lose someone you love, and how it’s normal to be upset about it.

Wes was a natural performer. Whether he was making ghostly raps rattle off his tongue to great effect, or slowing down to tell a more day-to-day story, he could throw in an accent or even get his fingers clicking to bring the listener along. You might even find yourself having to join in!

Wes was a real craftsman when it came to his poems and they are full of rhymes and strong rhythms. He wrote lots of different sorts of poems, from narratives to raps, ballads to free verse.

Wes was born in Scotland and worked as a teacher before he became a full time writer. It was actually one of his pupils who helped to get him started. They were unhappy because there weren’t any poems about dinosaurs so Wes tried to write some himself, not realising that years later he’d be writing and reading his poems for children all over the world.

Wes lived in the North York Moors and wrote his poems in a hut at the bottom of his garden. When he was not in the hut and hard at work he was regularly on tour, taking his Poetry Show to schools and theatres around the country.

Wes's recording was made on 7 May 2003 at the Audio Workshop, London and was produced by Anne Rosenfeld.