Michael Mott

Michael Mott (born 8 December 1930, London) is the author of eleven poetry collections, four novels and a best-selling biography of Thomas Merton.

Mott was born in London. His father was a solicitor and his mother was a sculptor from Denver, Colorado.

Mott was educated in the United States and in England. After his service in the British Army, he attended Oriel College of Oxford University, then art school and a year traveling in Europe and the Middle East. Mott then began his literary career taking a job in 1956 as the editor of trade journal, Air Freight. In 1957, his first collection of poetry, The Cost of Living, was published.

On 6 May 1961, Mott married Margaret Watt, a fashion designer, at St. John's Wood Church, London. In 1962, as the couple welcomed twin daughters, Mott's first novel The Notebooks of Susan Berry was published. Reviewer Kenneth Allsop writing for the Daily Mail called the book, "a brilliant first novel." Between 1961 and 1964, Mott worked as a book editor at Thames & Hudson and then as an editor at The Geographical Magazine (1964–66).

During this time, his first juvenile novel, Master Entrick was published in 1964 in the UK. The book was released in 1966 in the U.S. and a full twenty years later in 1986, a second edition was released as a Dell Yearling edition.

In 1966, Mott was invited to teach at Kenyon College and to be the poetry editor of The Kenyon Review. While at Kenyon, Mott continued to publish poetry and fiction, publishing Helmet and Wasps and The Blind Cross

During the 1970s Mott and his family lived in Atlanta, Georgia. Mott taught at Emory University as Writer in Residence. Both Michael and Margaret, a costume designer with The Alliance Children's Theater and weaver, were active in Atlanta's budding arts scene. In 1972, he cofounded the Callanwolde Readings Program, which highlights poets and writers, with poet Turner Cassity. In 1974, Mott received the Governors Award in Fine Arts from then Governor Jimmy Carter.

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