Welcome to the website of Richard Skinner. Here you will find information about my poetry, my cabaret-revue comedy, my research into evolutionary psychology and spirituality, and my musical collaboration with friend and composer Nigel Walsh. If you wish to contact me about any of them - to order books, to commission a poem, to book me for a poetry reading or a cabaret or a creative writing workshop, or simply to comment on the material I am posting, please email me by clicking HERE or going to my contact page. If you simply wish to have some comments to reflect on, or laugh at, click on the miscellany button.
A Londoner by upbringing, I moved to the south-west of England in 1975 for 6 months in order to write a novel. I'm still here - I’m a slow writer, and the novel remains unpublished and unpublishable. Over the years I have worked as a library assistant, psychiatric nurse, social worker, family therapist, mental health support worker and second-hand bookshop assistant. In 2012 I completed a doctorate at Exeter University on developing links between evolutionary theory and spirituality, writing a thesis entitled Spirituality: How Evolutionary Psychology Can Enhance Our Understanding. These days I focus on my writing, with occasional forays into performing comedy.
I have been a member of the Parish of Central Exeter for many years, where for some years I was church warden and newsletter editor. I live in Exeter with my wife Betsy (who has three daughters: Julia, Jenny and Skye) and two cats, Mia and Lyra. We also have four hens.
BREAKING NEWS
In November 2016 my new book of poetry, entitled A Brief Poetry of Time was published by Oversteps Press. If you would like to order a copy, please go to the poetry page. The next book, Colliding With God, is due out from Wild Goose Publications sometime in 2017.