William Oxley

William Oxley (1939 – February 4, 2020) was an English poet. In addition to 31 poetry publications, he was also responsible for a range of books covering literary criticism, philosophy, fiction, plays and biography.

A limited edition print employing lines from his epic poem, A Map of Time, was chosen by the Department of Cartography at the University of Wisconsin to use, with appropriate illustration, in their Annual Broadsheet for 2002. Another of his long poems, Over the Hills of Hampstead, was awarded first prize by the online long poem magazine, Echoes of Gilgamesh. In 2008, he received the Torbay ArtsBase Award for Literature. His work is featured on various websites, including, from its beginning, Anne Stewart's prestigious www.poetrypf.co.uk and www.creativetorbay.com. His archive was acquired by the British Library in 2014.

He became a member of the general council of the Poetry Society in 1990, and opposed its commercialisation. In 2000, William was poet laureate for Torbay, the district covering Brixham, where he had moved to. This led to him and Patricia organising the Torbay Poetry Festival from 2001 to 2019.

Oxley's poems were widely published throughout the world, in magazines and journals as diverse as The New York Times, The Formalist (USA), The Scotsman, New Statesman, The London Magazine, Stand, The Independent, The Spectator and The Observer. Following the publication of a number of his works on the Continent in the 1980s and 1990s, Oxley was dubbed one of Britain's first Europoets. He read his work on UK and European radio and was said to be the only British poet to have read in Shangri-la, Nepal. He published his first volume of poetry in 1967, and his latest volume in 2015.

In 1976, he moved to Devon with his family, and focused on poetry. His wife Patricia founded the literary journal Acumen in 1985, with William as treasurer and interviews editor.

He founded the magazine Littack (Literature Attack) in 1972, and also edited the poetry publications New Headland (1969–74), Laissez-Faire (1971–75), Orbis (1972–74), The Village Review (1973–74), Poetry Newsletter (1976–78), The Littack Supplement (1976-80) and Lapis Lazuli (1977–78). He also co-edited the newsletter of the Long Poem Group for several years, as its founder.

Oxley met Patricia Holmes through the Manchester Shakespeare Players, and they married in 1963. They had two daughters, Elizabeth Helen (b. 1966) and Katie Sarah (b. 1969). After originally settling in London, they moved to Brixham in South Devon with Patricia's mother in 1976. He died in February 2020, aged 80, survived by his wife and daughters.