We love our local authors, some of whom write about the Vale or base their novels in the area. John E Wright is from Devizes and regularly writes and publishes poetry, humorous fiction, children’s books and self-help organiser books. He’s also a songwriter and composer, and has published books about the songs he has written, their inspiration and back stories – written about a time past when John and fellow musicians met at the Black Swan Inn in Devizes for unplugged acoustic music nights.
In addition to a back catalogue of some 270+ original songs, John's covers include songs by Oasis, One Republic, Tom Petty, Cheap Trick, Boston, Foreigner, The Who, Chris Isaak, Take That, Bob Dylan, Rainbow, The Eagles, Blackberry Smoke, The Hollies, Scorpions, Steve Earle, Travelling Wilburys and more. A truly eclectic collection of work and a very talented chap!
One of our favourites of John’s books is “Stuff ‘n’ Nonsense”, a collection of poetry and prose, which you can dip in and out of as the mood takes you. Craig, The Courageous Crane Fly is a lovely story! Even better, this little book raises funds for Wiltshire Air Ambulance (pp £9.99). You can order “Stuff ‘n’ Nonsense” from The Little Lunchbox Café in Pewsey (01672 564901) or directly from John with a short email to songsbyjohn@mail.com.
John has also just released the latest version of his French-English Dictionary (2024) which, unsurprisingly, is not your usual dictionary. The format lends itself to quick look-ups – particularly useful when you are reading French and you just want to find the meaning without having to understand the grammar, context or indeed worry about the accents!
John’s literary work is on Amazon and his collection is well worth a browse – you’ll be amazed to see the range of genres and subjects that his writing covers! John still performs live music across the south west and hasn’t finished creating albums of his own work and covers. If you are interested in his music, then you can find him on Soundcloud.
