Bill Homewood
"I wish I could mark the varied moments of my life with such vividness and passion."
Dame Janet Suzman
Triggered by Israel's genocide of Palestinians between 2014 and 2024, this is a diary in poetry
2024
"A furious mourning," Bill writes, "for the country which I shall now call Palestine."
"Bill Homewood's rich, moving and witty poems take you beyond the image... the words tear at my heart... This is a book to delve into again and again."
Jenny Agutter OBE
"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
WINE & CAKE & CREAM: Selected Poems 2015 - 2020 Paperback – 27 Feb 2020
Poet Sir Stephen Spender wrote that Bill Homewood's poetry is marked by "a controlled carelessness which makes me very envious."
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
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 2014-2024 (French) Paperback – 8 Feb 2017 - (republished 2024)
“…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
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 The book contains much previously unpublished material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
CATEGORIES: TELEVISION | FILM | RADIO | STAGE | POETRY | ABRIDGING | TRANSLATIONS | SUNDRY
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
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)
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)
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
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
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.
