Joe Neal's musical poetry is always a pleasure to read, and Rossetti's Wombat collects together his best work from Turn Now the Tide, Hear the Colour, Still Rise the Sun and The Next Blue Note. The vividness of nature and the power of art lie palpably beneath the surface of every page. It is not a book to be missed.
In Rossetti's Wombat he writes like a hipster evangelist; read him and share the pleasure of a poet remembering things he didn't know he knew. Tom Mooney
"Neal paints a layered and subtle picture of days gone by. His poems are warm, graceful and keenly observed." - Eoin Colfer
Joe Neal was born half-way up a mountain in North Wales. He began his acting career in repertory theatre before attending Nottingham University. To supplement his income, he also trained as a journalist, working for the Western Mail (Cardiff), Times, Guardian, Daily Telegraph and Daily Express. As an actor, he has performed on stage, radio and television in Britain and Ireland. Between acting work Neal writes extensively on the countryside and natural history as well as devoting time to poetry and short stories which he believes should be read aloud - 'even to oneself.' His published work has appeared in the Times, Daily Telegraph, Countryman, Waterlog, New Writer, New Society (now defunct), Ireland's Own, Scaldy Detail and numerous poetry magazines. Performed writing includes Revenge, The Reluctant Trombonist, Send in the Clown and Kites and Catullus. He has read the poems of Seamus Heaney and John Betjeman on BBC television and Shakespeare and Dylan Thomas on BBC radio. He has had 12 of his poems published in the anthology Dust Motes Dancing in the Sunbeams.