Career
His poetry was also recognized by an Arts Council bursary, an Arts Council creative writing fellowship (1976-1978), a writing fellowship at the University of Southampton (1978-1980) and a Poetry Book Society recommendation for Our Worst Suspicions (1985). He has had three concert libretti set and performed. Some of Birtwhistle"s early poems were translated by Ștefan Augustin Doinaș and published in Romanian.
His 1996 libretto for The Fabulous Adventures of Alexander the Great by composer David Blake was translated into Greek.
Birtwhistle also contributed "Occasion of the essay" a digital introduction to John Clare"s essay "Popularity in Authorship" and helps with the poetry page of a BMJ journal. From 1980, he was a lecturer in English at the University of New York
