David Gilbert is a born and bred Londoner. He is the youngest son of a kinder-transport refugee, and has worked for 35 years in health and healthcare. He is a mental health user and the first ‘Patient Director’ in the NHS.

Throughout his career, he has written poetry, and has published four collections:

David's poems have appeared in Acumen, Brittle Star, Ink Sweat and Tears, Interpreter's House, Magma, The Rialto, Smith's Knoll, South Bank Magazine and Under the Radar, and in anthologies (This Line Is Not For Turning, a collection of 20th Century British prose poetry, published by Cinnamon Press)

He is currently working on a prose and poetry project exploring Jewish experiences in the early 1950s, in particular through the eyes of his uncle Robin who helped support Operation Magic Carpet, the migration of Yemenite Jews to Israel.

David is married to Susan and has two children, Samuel, 21 and Adam, 17.

His poetry is often narrative based, sometimes with a twist of the surreal. And much of his early inspiration has been founded in his psychiatric experiences. He has undertaken several collaborative projects and creative writing workshops – with visual artists, composers and in the environmental field. He is Writer In Residence at The Bethlem Gallery.


chevron-down