Profile for Stephen Atkinson

I like to see myself, in Donovan's words, as "a retired writer in the sun', except that I never actually was in The Sun ( except briefly as a casual sub-editor) but on The Mirror for nearly 30 years as a reporter. I now enjoy writing for its own sake - free of deadlines, d-notices and all the other restrictions that come with the job in what used to be called Fleet Street.  I spend a great deal of my time, here and in South America, writing short stories, songs, and poems. (Don't ask about the poems - they are all supposed to be songs but I struggle to write music !)