To whom it may concern,

I noticed recently that the Wikipedia entry on myself (Mark Granier) has been challenged for a number of things, including 'sockpuppetry' and 'notability'.

Re the former, there appears to be a suspicion that the person who initially put up the page, Chris.hamiltonemery, might be me under another name. In fact, Chris Hamilton Emery is the person who runs Salt Publishing (see Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Emery), and he published my third collection, Fade Street, in 2010. Chris thought it a good idea to put up an article about me and so did I at the time.

[UPDATE: Chris Emery has now sent an email to Eric Skoglund, confirming that he is the creator of the original article/page, Mark Granier.]

Subsequently, Chris took my book off the Salt list, along with many other poets, when he drastically reduced his poetry section.

Since then, I have updated my own page, which would otherwise have been inaccurate. Perhaps this was a mistake (a conflict of interest), but I have emailed the Wikipedia information team and according to Eric Skoglund 'if someone does create an article about you, you should feel more than welcome to edit the article to ensure that each piece of information is factual...'. All of my updates are strictly factual (books published, notable prizes awarded, etc.) and almost all are verifiable with a few moments' googling.

Re my notability as a poet, that's up to others to judge, but I have published four collections of poetry, have won a number of awards and arts council bursaries and you'll find my poems in online journals such as The New Statesman, The Irish Times and The Dublin Review of books (I've added links to these below).

Re my notability as a photographer I haven't made any great claims but I have won a couple of awards and photographed some well-known people, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jo Brand; Wikipedia actually requested my image of Jo Brand, which I have allowed them to use. Perhaps the photography section is a mistake, as it didn't feature in the original article. If you think it should be removed I'll understand (though I have now put in the citations).

Yours sincerely, Mark Granier

[UPDATE: I have now edited the page and inserted the appropriate links/citations.]

Please find below a series of links to online sources which will support what I have said, including an amended link to the Vincent Buckley Prize (the older link was dead, as you noted):

POETRY

My page at Irish Writers Online http://www.irishwriters-online.com/granier-mark/

University of Melbourne’s record of me being awarded The Vincent Buckley Poetry Prize: http://archive.uninews.unimelb.edu.au/view-48164.html

My reading with others awarded Kathleen and Patrick Kavanagh fellowship http://www.writing.ie/guest-blogs/patrick-kavanagh-fellowship-readings-2/

My first collection, Airborne (with reviews): http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=70&a=56

My second collection, The Sky Road (with reviews): http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=56&a=56

My fourth (recent) collection, Haunt http://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=352&a=56

The launch of Haunt in The Irish Writers’ Centre: http://www.publishingireland.com/launch-haunt-mark-granier/

Fade Street (reviewed by David Wheatley in his blog): http://georgiasam.blogspot.ie/2010/06/jallywow-catacoustics-picassoesque.html

My readings of my poems on The Seamus Heaney Centre Digital Archive: http://digitalcollections.qub.ac.uk/poetry/recordings/author/Mark%20Granier

My collections’ ISBN numbers:

Airborne: 9781903392195 http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781903392195

The Sky Road: 9781903392591 http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781903392591

Fade Street: 9781844717361 http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781844717361

Haunt: 9781910669013 http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/9781910669013

PHOTOGRAPHY

‘Home’ photography exhibition in which I won a runner up prize: http://www.dlrcoco.ie/newsevents/latestnews/title,11477,en.html

Markgranier1 (talk) 13:10, 11 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

Here's what I can find online: McAuliffe in the Irish Times on my third collection Fade Street http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/searing-sketches-of-a-suburban-childhood-1.583325 David Wheatley in his online blog, Georgiasam, on the same book: http://georgiasam.blogspot.ie/2010/06/jallywow-catacoustics-picassoesque.html Other reviews, for my previous collections, are: 'The Drum Rolls of Doom', a review of my first collection, Airborne, by James J. McAuley, Poetry Ireland Review 72 SPRING 2002 'Better Lives and Loves', a review of my first collection by Maurice Harmon, The Irish Times, February 2nd 2002 'Different responses to the dilemma of modern living' a review of my second collection, The Sky Road, by Nessa O'Mahony in The Irish Times, August 11th 2007 A review by Val Nolan of my second collection, The Sky Road, Poetry Ireland Review, Issue 98, July 2009 There are no links to these reviews but I could probably scan them if you wish, though excerpts from them are published on the Salmon website: http://www.salmonpoetry.com/bookshop-search.php Markgranier1 (talk) 22:38, 14 June 2015 (UTC) Thanks for getting back, and all your advice with editing (and your own edits/references). That's very helpful. I have added another reference (an article by Arminta Wallace, who quotes from the third collection, Fade Street). I'll put in some more when I get a chance. Markgranier1 (talk) 23:22, 15 June 2015 (UTC)Reply

It is best to reference the source, not an excerpt. See what I have done with the page. It would be good to add any reviews I did not yet add from Poetry Ireland Review as well as articles from the Irish Times and other newspapers. And any interviews or profiles, however brief, as well as news article that describe you and your work, however briefly. It is legitimate to add information from newspaper, journals articles that are not available online. Click the cite box at the top of the page, then click "cite" and click the "template" box that will appear. Fill in the blanks, date, author, etc. Leave the URL box empty if you are working from a paper copy and don't have it.