DUFFETT, Michael 1943-

PERSONAL: Born February 23, 1943, in London, England; son of Jack Anthony (a naval officer) and Doris Ann Lilian (a homemaker; maiden name, Carr) Duffett; married Diane Gruenstein (deceased); married Debra Faye Jones, July 31, 1982; children: Kimberley, Heather, Matthew, Jack, Chaela, Peter. Ethnicity: "Caucasian". Education: Cambridge University, B.A., 1964, M.A., 1968. Religion: Church of England. Hobbies and other interests: Languages (French, Arabic, Japanese, Greek, Spanish), travel (Middle East, Far East, Greece, India).

ADDRESSES: Home—3201 Laurie Ct., Valley Springs, CA 95252. Offıce—Humphreys College, 6650 Inglewood, Stockton, CA 95207; fax: 209-478-8721. Agent—Curtis Erickson, Empire Literary Services, P.O. Box 361, Empire, CA 95319. E-mail—mduffett@ humphreys.edu.

CAREER: English teacher at a high school in al Hufūf, Saudi Arabia, 1964-70; Kawamura Gakuen University, Mejiro, Tokyo, Japan, associate professor of English, 1975-80; writer-in-residence at school in Ione, CA, 1988-92; Columbia College, Sonora, CA, instructor in English, 1996—, member of council, academic senate, 1998—. Humphreys College, instructor, 1996—. National Reading Development Institute, senior branch manager. Culture for Youth Committee, Calaveras County, CA, member, 1988-94.

MEMBER: Cambridge Society, International House of Japan.

AWARDS, HONORS: Litt.D. from Japanese educational institution, 1977.

WRITINGS:

Pebbles on the Shore, PHP Press, 1972.

George Herbert and Gerard Manley Hopkins, International Hopkins Society, 1975.

Evolution: A Japanese Journal, Wesley Press, 1977.

Our Bert and Kezia, Kenkyusha Press, 1979.

The Growth of English Fiction, Wesley Press, 1980.

Cold Cultural Curry, West-West Center (Honolulu, HI), 1981.

(Editor, with Reuel Denny and Wimal Dissanayake) Poetry East and West, East-West Center (Honolulu, HI), 1981.

Mount Hamilton Observatory, Cow in the Road (San Jose, CA), 1983.

The Land of Nifty Noonah, privately printed, 1985.

(And illustrator) A Baker's Dozen, privately printed, 1985.

Forever Avenue, John Daniel, 1987.

Mountain (verse melodrama), broadcast on National Public Radio, 1988.

Within and Without: Poems à Capella and Otherwise (compact disc), MusicLabs, 1999.

Contributor to periodicals, including Japan Times and New Zealand Listener. Carcanet, founder, 1961, editor, 1961-62; editor, River News-Herald, Rio Vista, CA.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Back to Basics: The Sources of the New Testament; AZ, a "dual biography in terza rima;" Chiefly Lives, a verse biography of George Herbert; Major Blizzard, a "docu-drama" in verse; The Homecoming, an autobiography in verse; "Elements 1943-2013," a science-fiction poem.

SIDELIGHTS: Michael Duffett told CA: "I have always known I would be a writer since I was required for homework at the age of eleven to paraphrase a Shakespeare speech. From that moment, words possessed me. I also remember being enchanted by John Steinbeck's Cannery Row when I was a teenager. My book Forever Avenue could not have been written without that dim and persistent memory.

"I write exclusively in longhand (except when composing on a computer for journalistic purposes) and very rarely revisit a verse after it is complete. I have written about the mysteries of life, and the only inspiration I can claim (among Arabs, Greeks, Indians, Japanese, and Americans) is the mystery of life and human personality itself."