Maurice James
1944-2010
Maurice James adored poetry right from early childhood, showing a particular love for the words of Robbie Burns.
In 1985, together with a friend, he established the Ouse Valley Poetry competition. He was living in Bedford at the time. Several years later he moved to Liverpool and there decided to change the name to the 'Coast to Coast' competition.
By then he was also producing a poetry magazine called 'Isthmus'. A few years ago now, short stories were added to the writing forms for 'Coast to Coast'.
This year now twenty five years of his work to encourage poets, but very sadly, cancer of the gullet brought his extremely creative life to an end. He was a man with a wicked sense of humour and a big heart, which explains why much of his entry fees went to medical charities.
Maurice will be missed by many in the writing world.