Monkey by John Gimblett

Monkey is a journey through India with a poet from Wales whose senses are constantly open. Beautifully observed, lightly woven images and a sensitivity what should be left unsaid combine to make these crafted pieces charged and affective.

Praise for Monkey

This is a travel book, but of a special kind. It’s not essentially a narrative in time, or even a log of one particular journey. As one might expect from a Westerner in these geographical parts, it is focussed on spirituality, but not exclusively on one set of beliefs or another; the author is alive to all manifestations of religion he encounters… And, as is usual and probably even desirable on a pilgrimage, the attempt of the self to remain calm and detached – or aware and alert – is threatened and eroded from all quarters.

The attempt at sustained awareness continues, communicated by some dazzling poetics… Gimblett is his own man, and as I said previously, the solidity of his kind of writing at its most successful can only flow from long dedication and practice, rather than direct influence. A true pilgrimage!’

Phil Maillard

John Gimblett was born in South Wales and began writing poetry at the age of 15. Tom Stoppard said of these early poems that they were “not my kind of thing.” He continued writing poetry and short stories, publishing in a wide range of magazines, including: Iron; Poetry Wales; Anglo-Welsh Review; Planet. In the early 1980s he published and edited a successful literary journal, Frames.

An extended trip to India and Asia (including short periods spent living in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries) resulted in the book Mister John (Stride, 1991). Recently, he has published widely in U.K. and U.S. magazines and journals—poetry, stories, travelogue and criticism.

John is married with a son, teaches children with S.E.N. and is studying for an M.A. in Autism. He read at the Hay Literary Festival in 2006 and is currently writing a novel for children.