John’s published work includes two pamphlet collections The Nutter in the Shrubbery and Glove Poems, and the full collection Shedman, as well as Our Storeys, a book about art and poetry in healthcare, written with artist Sue Ridge. 

In 2017, he was the first non-Irish editor of The Stony Thursday Book, an annual anthology of contemporary poetry published by Limerick Arts Office in Ireland. 

His New and Selected Poems was recently published as Nest in North America by Red Hen Press and as Jizz n the UK by Kingston University Press. 

John developed an entertainment based around the poems in the New & Selected working with musician Helen Lunt and a group of dancers. You can find out more about this exciting project here. 

John is perhaps best known as his poetic alter ego, Shedman, the original itinerant poet in a shed who has appeared at numerous festivals and events. 

John has been a literary activist and publisher. He was the founder and director of innovative small press publisher Pighog from 2002 to 2014, when the list was taken over by Los Angeles based Red Hen Press. From 2002-8 he organised writers’ network THE SOUTH that put Brighton and Sussex on the international literary map and created a wide range of opportunities for poets and writers, as well as organising events and festivals.

Born and raised in Birmingham in the English Midlands, John now lives in Brighton with his wife, Rosy and Wilson, the golden retriever.