John Halliday was born in Durham and has always lived in the North East. He has a lifelong interest in poetry and following a Creative Writing PhD has facilitated memoir and life writing groups for older writers. For many years he worked as a psychotherapist and noticed the impact poetry had on those engaging with their distress. He believes poetry can help us face life’s vicissitudes of which ageing is one of the most prominent. Over the last four years he has run the Basil Bunting Poetry Competition and through that hopes to encourage young writers to write poetry. His anthology, Don't Bring Me No Rocking Chair: poems on ageing, was published by Bloodaxe Books with Newcastle University in 2013.

With age comes a growing thoughtfulness: what was it all for? What have we made of our lives, what have we known of love, what have we enjoyed of beauty and how do we come to terms with our going? This remarkable book contains thoughts on all such concerns. Its variety is extensive but one thing is sustained throughout. The quality of ideas and expression is of the highest. On whichever page you alight there is something that will offer comfort, delight, and insight. While the world of money, ambition and worldly cares recedes, matters of the heart and spirit come to matter more. This book is the ideal companion on that journey. -- Joan Bakewell