Paul Millicheap (born 14 June 1970), who writes as Brian Bilston, is a British poet and author.
Biography Born in Birmingham, England, he studied at the University of Wales, Swansea, before entering the publishing industry as a marketing manager, notably for John Wiley in Oxford. Paul Millicheap, LinkedIn. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
Using the pseudonym Brian Bilston, he began publishing short and pithy, often humorous, poems on Twitter, which were then spread widely on social media. He gained up to 400,000 followers, and has been described as "The Poet Laureate of Twitter". The poet Ian McMillan described Bilston as "a laureate for our fractured times",Freeman, Greg, "Alexa, what's the latest about Brian Bilston, poet laureate of Twitter?", Write Out Loud, 14 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2023 and he has been compared to Don Marquis, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash.Cronley, Connie, "Light, Bright Verse", LIFE's Vintage Newsmagazine, August 2022, p. 32.
Bilston has published three collections of verse, You Took the Last Bus Home (2016); Alexa, What Is There to Know About Love? (2021); and Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022). He has also written a book of football poems, 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021). His first novel, Diary of a Somebody (2019), was shortlisted for the Costa Book Award for First Novel, and his poem "Refugees" has been published as an illustrated book for children. In 2023, he published a book of "seasonally adjusted poems", And So This Is Christmas."Christmas", BrianBilston.com. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
He has been called "the Banksy of the poetry world"; "Brian Bilston, the mystery man of poetry, answers our questions", Pan Macmillan, 26 January 2021. Retrieved 15 December 2023. in publicity photographs promoting his speaking tours, he hides his face behind a book.
In 2025, Bilston was shortlisted for the CLiPPA poetry award for his children's collection, Let Sleeping Cats Lie (Pan Macmillan, 2024) In an interview for Just Imagine he said 'One thing I would say is that it's easier to take all the shackles off when you’re writing for children. I think there's less expectation that a poem needs to be a particular kind of thing. Basically, children are far more imaginative and accepting and carry so much more joy in them than a lot of grown-ups. '
He also recorded and released an album, Sounds Made By Humans, with indiepop band the Catenary Wires. "Online poet Brian Bilston & indiepop pioneers The Catenary Wires pool their talents", Buzz, 11 May 2025. Retrieved 15 May 2025
Publications You Took the Last Bus Home (2016) Diary of a Somebody (2019) 50 Ways to Score a Goal (2021) Alexa, What Is There to Know About Love? (2021) Days Like These: An Alternative Guide to the Year in 366 Poems (2022) Refugees (2022, illustrated by José Sanabria) And So This Is Christmas (2023) Let Sleeping Cats Lie (2024) How to Lay an Egg with a Horse Inside: An Alternative Guide to Writing and Enjoying Poetry (2026)
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