Martyn Offord

Martyn Offord was born and brought up in Sudbury Suffolk. He went to Hull University and then spent most of his career teaching English in a Sixth Form College. For a while he taught in the USA and has travelled widely there and in South America as well as Australia and New Zealand. However, he keeps returning to Northern Ireland, his wife's home and to Gozo, an island off Malta, and home of a rather eccentric uncle. It's these places that have particularly fed him ideas that over the years he has turned into stories. However, it wasn't until he was retired that he started cleaning out his garage and found a couple of novels set in 1980s Ulster and his Father Jacko stories located in Gozo.

'Father Jacko's Gozo Stories' are embroidered accounts of things he saw, might have seen or imagined and the exploits of his Uncle feature frequently. In fact some of the most improbable episodes are the ones that most closely coincide with truth. Faraxa Press in Malta published the book in 2018, but Covid and travel difficulties have meant the book hasn't had the promotion it might have had. Anyway Martyn reads it himself to enjoy some vicarious sunshine on gloomy English days.

A further challenge has been provided by living in Crich, in Derbyshire. His first violume of poetry was called 'Little Rhymes with Crich' and as it became clearer that that was indeed so, his next volume boasted that 'Nothing Rhymes with Crich'. Both books have been sold to raise money for local causes. Martyn occasionally gives public readings along with song performances on a number of instruments, his favourite being the Appalachian dulcimer. He is also active in the village church and local choirs. He has a strong fan base among the village under-3s because he leads a singsong at the toddler group, though regretably they have grown out of him by school-age. However his wife, two daughters and four grandchildren remain politely loyal.

Currently Martyn is compiling his third book of poetry, still haunted by the rhymelessness of his home village, now titled 'Crich Rhymes (with nothing)