Clive Wilmer

Among contemporary writers, Wilmer has written on the work of the poets Thom Gunn and Donald Davie and has edited volumes of their essays. His annotated edition of Gunn's Selected Poems was published by Faber and Faber in 2017. He co-edited The Letters of Thom Gunn (2021). His edition of The Essays of Thom Gunn is expected in 2024.

He has had various teaching jobs in Italy – in Florence, Verona, Padua and Venice. In 2015 he was a Visiting Professor at Ca' Foscari University of Venice.

He is interested in the art of verse translation and has translated from several languages, In particular, he has translated in collaboration with the Hungarian poet George Gömöri. Together they have published selections from Miklós Radnóti, György Petri, János Pilinszky and Gömöri himself, as well as pieces by several others. In recognition of this work, Wilmer was awarded the Endre Ady Memorial Medal by the Hungarian PEN Club in 1998; the Pro Cultura Hungarica medal by the Hungarian Ministry of Culture in 2005; and in Budapest in 2018, he received the Janus Pannonius Prize for a lifetime’s achievement in translation from Hungarian. Wilmer's own poems have been translated into Hungarian, Italian and Spanish.

His many lectures both in Britain and overseas include: the Mikimoto Memorial Ruskin Lecture at Lancaster University (1996); the William Morris Birthday Lecture for the Friends of the William Morris Gallery, Walthamstow (2014); the annual Ruskin Lecture for the Guild of St George (2019); and the first Ruskin Birthday Lecture at Notre Dame University, Indiana (2020). He has also organised conferences, symposia and colloquies. These include, at Sidney Sussex College in 2011, a conference for the quatercentenary of the King James Bible, and at the Museo Correr, Venice, in 2018, a symposium on Ruskin and Venice to accompany the exhibition John Ruskin: Le pietri di Venezia at the Ducal Palace there.

His work is also marked by an enthusiasm for architecture and visual culture. He is an advocate for the work of the Victorian critic, artist, philanthropist and social reformer John Ruskin. Since 1995, he has been a Companion of the Guild of St George, the charity for arts, crafts and the rural economy, founded by Ruskin. He was a Director of the Guild from 2004 to 2019 and the Master from 2009 to 2019. He has also written extensively on William Morris. He is the editor of Penguin selections of John Ruskin (Unto this Last, and Other Writings) and William Morris (News from Nowhere, and Other Writings). In 2023 he will be presented with the annual Lifetime Achievement Award of the Ruskin Society of North America.

He has contributed poems and articles to a wide range of newspapers and periodicals, including the Times Literary Supplement, PN Review and The London Magazine. He has also broadcast for the BBC and from 1989-91 was chief presenter for the series Poet of the Month on Radio 3; most of the interviews made for that programme were transcribed in his book Poets Talking (1994).

Wilmer was the prime mover of the Ezra Pound centenary exhibition Pound's Artists: Ezra Pound and the Visual Arts in London, Paris and Italy, held at Kettle's Yard and the Tate Gallery in 1985. From 1986 to 1990, Wilmer was one of the four founding editors of the magazine Numbers.

Clive Wilmer (born 10 February 1945) is a British poet, who has published eight volumes of poetry. He is also a critic, literary journalist, broadcaster and lecturer.