Laurence Lerner (12 December 1925 – 19 January 2016), often called Larry, was a South African-born British literary critic, poet, novelist, and lecturer, recognized for his achievement with his election to The Royal Society of Literature.
[1] Laurence Lerner was born in Cape Town, South Africa; his Jewish father Israel was from Zhitomir, Ukraine and his mother May from Abinger Hammer, England.
[5] Lerner taught in many universities around the world in addition to those where he held positions jobs, including Munich, Dijon, various places in the US and Canada, Kashmir, Wurzburg, and Vienna.
[6] Although he described himself as a follower who was surprised to be accepted, Lerner was an active member of the Society of Friends (Quakers), attending Brighton, Nashville and then Lewes meetings.
He published nine collections of poetry, three novels, ten books of literary criticism, reflections on English language usage and life as a professor, and lectures, essays and poems.
I spat and called: I loved that time, those horses, The brittle bread, the water, the soft dark, The stiff floor always there, the always steady Till I was carried to the bumpy world: The air threw needles at my eyes.