PALEWELL PRESS

A committed European, Derek Summers' poems reflect his extensive, enthusiastic travels. He was brought up and educated in North West London and studied English Literature, French and Philosophy. In Nottingham, Bedford and Luton, he taught poetry to non-traditional students including craft apprentices and returners to study.

In 2016, Palewell Press published Derek's second collection, in the alyscamps, which displays his characteristic social and political commitment. He believes poetry provides redress to some of life’s wounding experiences and that it can speak truth about power, if not to it.

His first collection was brevities: 20 short poems, published in 2012. He is the editor of an anthology produced with old Labour politician Michael Foot: The Foots and the Poets, Poetry and a Political Family (Jarndyce, 2010). Derek's work has also appeared in The Interpreter’s House and The French Literary Review. He was highly commended in the 2014 Sentinel International Poetry Competition and contributed to the Oxford Ashmolean Museum’s Ekphrasis Poetry project.