His first book,
Juvenilia 1 (1961), was a collection of poems. A second volume,
Juvenilia 2 (1963), won the
Eric Gregory Award. Both volumes were enthusiastically received and
Martin Seymour-Smith described Nye as showing a "precocity unique in this century". This view was supported by
G. S. Fraser, who in an article in
The Times Literary Supplement convincingly established an affinity between Nye's early poetry and that of
Robert Graves. To support his continuance as a poet, Nye began to contribute reviews to British literary journals and newspapers. He became the poetry editor for
The Scotsman in 1967, and served as poetry critic of
The Times from 1971 to 1996, while also contributing regular reviews of new fiction to
The Guardian. Nye started writing stories for children to entertain his three young sons. His children's novel
Taliesin and a collection of stories called ''March Has Horse's Ears
were published by Faber and Faber in 1966. When Nye published his first adult novel, Doubtfire'' (1967), it was described by
P. J. Kavanagh as "breathless" and "brilliant"; Kavanagh also referred to the author's "love affair with rhythms and language". That same year Nye divorced his first wife. A year later he married Aileen Campbell, Nye's next publication after
Doubtfire was a return to children's literature, a freewheeling version of
Beowulf that has remained in print in many editions since 1968. In 1970, Nye published another children's book,
Wishing Gold, and received the James Kennaway Memorial Award for his collection of short stories,
Tales I Told My Mother (1969). During the early 1970s Nye wrote several plays for
BBC radio, including
A Bloody Stupid Hole (1970),
Reynolds, Reynolds (1971), and a version of
Penthesilea by
Heinrich von Kleist (1971). He was also commissioned by
Covent Garden Opera House to write an unpublished libretto for
Harrison Birtwistle's opera,
Kronia (1970). Nye held the position of writer in residence at the
University of Edinburgh, 1976–1977, during which time he received the
Guardian Fiction Prize, followed by the 1976
Hawthornden Prize for his novel
Falstaff. ==Selected works==