Born in London, England, in 1935, of Scottish and Irish ancestry, Stuart Dodds served two years of national service in the Royal Air Force. In 1956, he emigrated to the United States. He has worked in advertising and publishing in London, New York and San Francisco. Before his recent retirement, he was editor/general manager of Chronicle Features, the syndication division of The San Francisco Chronicle.

While he has written poetry for most of his adult life, he says that his first sustained efforts, in the 1950s in New York, were inspired by a poetry workshop given by the late Kenneth Koch at the New School for Social Research. In 1961, he received the New School’s Dylan Thomas Poetry Award for that year.

His work has appeared in various poetry journals in the United States. “Towards a buried heart” is his first published collection.