Fred Voss (1952-2025) worked as a machinist for much of his life, picking up the pen and the wrench to chronicle what goes on between tin walls. He published three books of poems with Bloodaxe, Goodstone (1991), Carnegie Hall with Tin Walls (1998) and Hammers and Hearts of the Gods (Bloodaxe Books, 2009; Pearl Editions, USA, 2016), and a novel, Making America Strong (World Parade Books, US, 2015). His work was featured prominently by the magazines Bête Noire in Britain and the Wormwood Review in the States, and he won the 1988 Wormwood Award. Love Birds, a collaboration with his poet wife Joan Jobe Smith, won the 1996 Chiron Prize. His later collections included two books with Culture Matters,The Earth and the Stars in the Palm of Our Hand (2016) and Robots Have No Bones (2018), followed by Someday There Will Be Machine Shops Full of Roses in 2023 from Smokestack Books. He was twice the subject of feature programmes about his poetry on BBC Radio 4. He lived in Long Beach, California, and worked in a nearby factory. Carnegie Hall with Tin Walls is still in print with Bloodaxe.
