Scotland - 9781739090203

“Scotland” is another essential issue from Irish Pages, the island’s leading literary journal. The issue is a cultural state-of-the-union for Scotland in the aftermath of the 2014 Referendum, with some incisive politics and a section of poems by Scotland’s leading and emerging poets. The Guest Editors are Kathleen Jamie, Scotland’s Makar or national poet laureate, and Don Paterson, celebrated Scottish poet and former Poetry Editor at Picador Books. This issue is sure to sell quite hugely in Scotland. Kathleen Jamie was born in the West of Scotland in 1962. She is the author of ten collections of poems, most recently The Tree House (Picador, 2004: winner of the Forward Prize and Scottish Book of the Year), Mr and Mrs Scotland Are Dead: Poems 1980-94 (Bloodaxe Books, 2002: shortlisted for the 2003 International Griffin Prize), The Overhaul (Picador, 2012: shortlisted for the 2012 T. S. Eliot Prize, winner of the 2012 Costa Poetry Award), and The Bonniest Companie (Picador, 2015). Her non-fiction work includes Among Muslims (Sort of Books, 2002), Findings (Sort of Books, 2007), Sightlines (Sort of Books, 2012: joint winner with Robert McFarlane of the 2013 Dolman Travel Award, winner of 2014 John Burroughs Award and the 2014 Orion Book Award) and Surfacing (Sort of Books, 2019). In 2017, she received the Ness Award from the Royal Geographical Society for “outstanding creative writing at the confluence of travel, nature and culture.” She is Scotland’s Makar and the Scottish Editor of Irish Pages. She lives with her family in Fife. Originally from Dundee, Scotland, Don Paterson left school at 16 and moved to London to pursue music and join a band. He found success with the jazz-folk ensemble Lammas, but was captivated by poetry upon encountering poet Tony Harrison, among others. He is the author of nine collections of poems, most recently 40 Sonnets (Faber, 2015) and Zonal (Faber, 2020), as well as several poetry anthologies and collections of aphorisms. He continues to perform as a jazz guitarist and lives in Dundee, Scotland.