Committee Member: Graham Palmer

…not the local politician! I've lived in Royston since 1990 and been vice-chair of Governors at Icknield Walk First School. I joined the Arts Festival Committee because I think the festival's a great celebration of local talent, both amateur and professional. In a different place, I co-founded Stride Magazine (described by Poetry Wales as embracing the entire little mag world 'like a punk predator during its early 80s heyday') with the poet Rupert Loydell, performed my own poetry (occasionally with live musicians) and wrote (a little) for arts and music papers (including Sounds, the defunct rival to NME). These days my English Language teaching books are published by Cambridge University Press and I also write about history.