I Just Stepped Out

Felix Dennis

Publisher and poet Felix Dennis was one of Britain's most colourful maverick millionaires. Imprisoned in 1971 as co-editor of OZ magazine and acquitted on appeal, he founded his own magazine publishing company in 1973 and made millions with the sale of Personal Computer World and MacUser in the mid-eighties. Today, Dennis Publishing remains a privately owned company with headquarters in London and New York City. Titles include The Week, Auto Express, Maxim, Men's Fitness and Computer Shopper. Following a life-threatening illness, his first collection of poetry, A Glass Half Full was published by Hutchinson and the second, Lone Wolf, in 2004. Eight more collections followed, accompanied by sell-out reading tours on both sides of the Atlantic. The Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection is awarded yearly, as part of the Forward Prizes for Poetry. As a lover of trees, his lifetime ambition was the planting of a large native broadleaf forest in Warwickshire. He had homes in England, the USA, St Vincent and the Grenadines and died of cancer in June 2014 at his home in Warwickshire.