About Felix Dennis
Felix Dennis is one of Britain’s best known entrepreneurs. He was born in Kingston-upon-Thames in 1947.
After leaving Harrow College of Art, Dennis wasted a great deal of his youth playing in R&B bands. In 1971 he was imprisoned by the British government as a co-editor of OZ magazine at the culmination of the longest conspiracy trial in English history. Dennis recorded a single with John Lennon to raise money for a legal defence fund.
Following his acquittal by the High Court of Appeal, Dennis went on to found his own magazine publishing company in 1973. A pioneer in personal computer magazines, Dennis made millions with the sale of Personal Computer World to VNU and MacUser to Ziff Davis Publishing in the mid-eighties. He also co-founded a $2 billion computer mail order company which eventually went public on the NASDAQ.
Today, Dennis Publishing remains a privately owned company with its headquarters in London. Titles include The Week, Auto Express, Maxim, Viz, Computer Shopper, Monkey and Evo. The annual Sunday Times Rich List estimates that Felix Dennis is the 88th richest individual in the UK.
Following a life-threatening illness, Dennis’s first collection of poetry, A Glass Half Full, was published in November 2002 by Hutchinson in the UK. It has since become one of the biggest selling books of original verse in England for years. The launch of this book saw Dennis embark on the first of his now famous ‘Did I Mention the Free Wine?’ poetry reading tours covering several UK cities. In October 2003, Dennis appeared with the Royal Shakespeare Company, along with several well-known RSC actors, reading from his work at The Swan Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon. This event proved so popular that two further such events, (one in New York City, one in Stratford-upon-Avon), took place in autumn 2004.
In September 2004, the US edition of A Glass Half Full was published by Miramax Books. The launch was supported by a 15 city coast-to-coast poetry reading tour of the US. Meanwhile, his second book of verse, Lone Wolf, was published in October 2004 by Hutchinson in the UK, again supported by a UK poetry tour.
The year of 2006 saw Dennis publish two more books in the UK. How To Get Rich, published by Ebury Press, launched in August. This title is a distillation of his business wisdom, dissecting the business failures and financial triumphs of ‘a South London lad who became rich virtually by accident’. In November Dennis launched his third poetry book When Jack Sued Jill: Nursery Rhymes for Modern Times taking inspiration from traditional nursery rhymes to rewrite his own, some-what darker versions tackling the outrages and absurdities of modern life in the 21st century.
2007 saw the launch of Island of Dreams, a beautiful, photo illustrated volume of poems inspired by the island of Mustique. All money raised by sales of the book is donated to the Mustique Community Library. Dennis founded the Mustique Community Library which provides over 4000 books for local inhabitants as well as computers with internet access and a video library.
In 2008 another book of poetry was launched entitled Homeless in My Heart, his most critically acclaimed collection to date. The book’s launch was accompanied by another poetry reading tour. The success of previous tours ensured packed houses in 11 cities from London to Edinburgh to Dublin. Also in 2008 the US edition of How to Get Rich was published by Portfolio.
Felix Dennis’s other interests include planting trees, commissioning bronze sculpture, drinking French wine and avoiding business meetings. He claims to spend three or four hours a day writing poetry, dividing his time between homes in Warwickshire, London, New York, Connecticut and the Caribbean island of Mustique.
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