"Drawing on his long experience as Shakespearean Actor as well as a skilled poet, Bill Homewood has produced a delightful and slightly irreverent homage to the sonnet form ... lively metaphors and alluring music ... a lovely book."

 

Adam Thorpe - Novelist

Poet Sir Stephen Spender wrote that Bill Homewood's poetry is marked by "a controlled carelessness which makes me very envious."

50 Sonnets

Paperback – 3 Aug 2020

"Bill sings in praise of the beautiful and versatile sonnet, with infectious lightness and humour. For the poetry lover he is a delight - for everyone else he is a revelation."

 

Sir Derek Jacobi

 

"These 50 sonnets read as if they were created by Nature as she observed the wonder and the mess of modern times, not by a bloke called Bill Homewood. But Bill did write them, and I loved them. The future just got better. Long live the sonnet."

 

Benjamin Zephaniah

Under the Blue: Poems

Paperback – 6 Mar 2015

★★★★★ Highly recommended read!

By Darren Marshall on 27 May 2015

 

"Page after page of wonderful insight, humour, emotion, Bill is a true word-smith, this collection is a highly recommended read!"

 

★★★★★ Poignant, reflective and thought provoking.....

By Sunshine Helen on 18 April 2015

 

"Everything I thought it would be and more... and yes "Times a trick, You Know""

poésies: poèmes et chansonnettes 2014-2017 (French) Paperback – 8 Feb 2017

“…une insouciance contrôlée que j’envie beaucoup, et une gaieté oscillante qui est tout à fait authentique…”

 

Le défunt Poète Lauréat des Etats-Unis Sir Stephen Spender

au sujet de la poésie de Bill Homewood

Theatrical Letters

Paperback – 1 Aug 1995

With a foreword by Sir John Gielgud, this is a 400 year history of the English-speaking theatre told through the correspondence of leading actors, their friends and colleagues. The book contains much previously unpublished material

 

★★★★★ A must for any Bill Homewood fan

By Quantum on 19 Jan. 2012

Further writing includes

TELEVISION

 

THE ARFER LOAF MONOLOGUES (For “So You Want to be Top!”),

BBC Television series (Dir. Judy Whitfield)

 

SPY TRAP

BBC Television series (Dir. Ian Oliver, David Crichton)

 

SHAKESPEARE LADY – (The life and times of Fanny Kemble, Victorian actress)

PBS Television – New York (Dir. Bill Homewood)

 

THE GERMS (projected Children’s Television series)

BBC commission

 

12 ROUNDS WITH GARY MASON

Chat show/magazine series: pilot script and generic formula/storylines commissioned for SKY TV/THK Productions – 1995

 

GOLD CHALLENGE

Sports knockout series: pilot script and generic formula/storylines commissioned for THK Productions/ ITV 1995

 

THE F-GAME

Commissioned late night game show: pilot script and generic formula/storylines commissioned and developed for THK Productions/Live TV 1998

 

Commissioned contributions to various BBC and Independent Television programmes

 

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FILM

 

HONOUR AMONG THIEVES

Screenplay commissioned by Gonzobros productions, Hollywood; pilot filmed January 2002.

 

ROMEO & JULIET

Screenplay commissioned 1990 by Yorkshire Television

 

JEHOVAH’S FARM

Screenplay of Bill’s first novel; development sought

 

WORLD PARTY

(Consultant screenwriter/script editor) – currently in development for THK Productions

 

JAH-SON – THE SECOND COMING*

(Consultant screenwriter/ script editor) – currently in development for THK Productions

*WINNER, 1994/5 EUROPEAN SCRIPT FUND AWARD*

 

N.B. Athol Fugard has given Bill permission to write the screenplay for a projected film of his play HELLO & GOODBYE

starring Antony Sher; Ross Devenish to direct (project postponed but alive)

 

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RADIO

 

SHAKESPEARE LADY (The life and times of Fanny Kemble, Victorian actress)

BBC World Service Drama (Dir. Dicken Read/Bill Homewood)

 

THE SONG OF SONGS (Dramatisation of the Song of Solomon, with music)

BBC World Service Drama (Dir. Gordon House/Bill Homewood)

 

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STAGE

 

THE TRIAL

(From the novel by Kafka)

Commissioned for the Young Vic Theatre, London 1993

Starring James Wilby

 

BEWITCHED, BOTHERED & BEWILDERED

Commissioned Musical Play about Lorenz Hart, 1994

Showcased Grosvenor House Hotel, Park Lane 1995

Starring Nickolas Grace and Lois Lane.

 

FANNY

Official Edinburgh Festival, Market Theatre, Johannesburg

4 USA tours, playing major theatres.

Starring Estelle Kohler and Bill Homewood

 

DOWNSTAIRS, UPSTAIRS

Hammersmith Town Hall

Revue starring Jane Asher, Diana Rigg, Edward de Souza & Derek Waring

 

WHO’S AFRAID OF THE SONNETS?

RSC tour, USA

Starring Paul Shelley.

 

SHAKESPEARE IN THE SADDLE

2-hander, Bermuda Festival. Also various British festivals including 1994 International Shakespeare Festival, Barbican Centre, London

Starring Estelle Kohler, Bill Homewood

 

THE SIEGE OF MASADA (Musical Theatre)

Hounslow Arts Festival, London

 

BUILDASHOW! (Children’s show)

Roundhouse Theatre, London & tour

 

PILLS TO PURGE MELANCHOLY

One man Revue, UK, Israel, USA tours

 

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POETRY

 

Bill is on Twitter as @theFacebookPoet. He also previews poetry from his published collections weekly on his Facebook Poetry Page:

Facebook.com/billhomewoodspoemaweekbymeforyou

 

Various published poems (Country Life Magazine, Nexus Magazine, Private Eye)

 

LANDSCAPE PAINTER AT DUSK - Unpublished collection

 

Semi-finalist ISP Poetry Competition – 1996

 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR (Publ. ISP) - Contributor

 

 

COMMISSIONED ABRIDGING

 

THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO for Naxos AudioBooks

Currently released as a double album on CD - read by Bill Homewood

 

THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK for Naxos AudioBooks

Currently released as a double album on CD - read by Bill Homewood

 

THE THREE MUSKETEERS for Naxos AudioBooks

Currently released as a triple album on CD - read by Bill Homewood

 

LES MISÉRABLES for Naxos AudioBooks

Currently released as a quadruple album on CD - read by Bill Homewood

 

KING SOLOMON'S MINES for Naxos Audiobooks

Currently released as a triple album on CD - read by Bill Homewood

NOVELS

 

JEHOVAH’S FARM – publisher sought

JAHSON – THE SECOND COMING – ghost-edited for author Raymond Stevenson

 

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TRANSLATIONS

 

LAND OF MEN - translated from St Exupéry's great classic TERRE DES HOMMES, commissioned by Ukemi Books, published 2016.

 

GREAT FRENCH POEMS (Ukemi Audiobooks) - commissioned translations of 35 great French classic poems, 2015

 

Sundry French/English and English/French commissions

 

 

SUNDRY ANON. ATTRIB. AND UNATTRIB.

 

Innumerable bits and pieces, including recently:

 

Commissioned sleeve notes for a number of commercially released CD/tape albums; commissioned (ghosted but unattributed) introduction to recently-published work of scholarship; innumerable commissioned advertising copy/voice-over scripts for events, publications, productions and radio commercials; commissioned ten minute satirical performance poem in style of Dryden.

 

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© Bill Homewood

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