His first book to be published in the USA was the widely acclaimed and much anthologised False Memory (The Figures, 1996). Freelance writer of fiction for newspapers and magazines, he had five novels published with New English Library between 1973 and 1976.During the early 1980s he made a number of performance art events that were staged in Cambridge, Liverpool, Edinburgh, London and Amsterdam. He was appointed the first Professor of Poetry in 2000 and Emeritus Professor in July 2009. He is now self-employed, writing and making public art based on text.