Brian Holton (born 11 July 1949) is the translator of Chinese "

Misty Misty may refer to: Music * ''Misty'' (Ray Stevens album), an album by Ray Stevens featuring the above song * ''Misty'' (Richard "Groove" Holmes album), an album by Richard "Groove" Holmes featuring the above song * ''Misty'' (Eddie "Lockjaw" ...

" poet Yang Lian. He translates into English and Scots, and is the only currently-publishing Chinese-Scots translator in the world.

Biography

Early life

Holton was born in

Galashiels Galashiels (; sco, Gallae, gd, An Geal Àth) is a town in the Scottish Borders with a population of around 12,600. Its name is often colloquially shortened to "Gala". The town is a major commercial centre for the Borders region with extensive ...

Selkirkshire Selkirkshire or the County of Selkirk ( gd, Siorrachd Shalcraig) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. It borders Peeblesshire to the west, Midlothian to the north, Roxburghshire to the east, and Dumfriesshire to the south. ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, but spent his early years from 1949-1955 in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Education

Holton was educated in Scotland, at

Larbert High School Larbert High School is a six-year, non-denominational state school in Stenhousemuir, Scotland, United Kingdom (UK). The school is run by Falkirk (council area), Falkirk Council Education Services on behalf of the Scottish Government. In 2005, the ...

and Galashiels Academy, studying for

Highers In the Scottish secondary education system, the Higher () is one of the national school-leaving certificate exams and university entrance qualifications of the Scottish Qualifications Certificate (SQC) offered by the Scottish Qualifications ...

in Latin, Greek, French and English. He gained an MA 1st class Hons. (

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

) in Chinese Studies from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1975, after which he carried out postgraduate research at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

from 1976-8.

Career

From 1978-85 Holton was based in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

, working in jobs including at the Ettrick &

Lauderdale Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water (a tributary of the Tweed) in the Scottish Borders. It contains the town of Lauder, as well as Earlston. The valley is traversed from end to end by the A68 trunk road, which runs from Darlington to E ...

Museum Service from 1982-85 as a Documentation Supervisor: cataloguing, indexing, copy editing, print buying, conceiving and mounting exhibitions, and carrying out general curatorial work. From 1981 - 85 he worked for BBC Radio Tweed,

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scottish radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same name from 23 November 197 ...

as a part-time writer and presenter part-time working on features, music, literature, and cultural events. From 1981-82 he worked at the Border Country Life Museum as an Assistant Curator handling field collection and collection management. From 1980-81 Holton worked for the Borders Regional Council, surveying and photographing buildings of architectural or historic importance, and in 1979-80 writing guidebooks and other tourist literature.

Academic career

He was the Leverhulme Research Associate in the Dept. of Chinese at the

, working on the Jin Shengtan Project from 1985-88. He also worked at

Ningbo University Ningbo University (NBU; ) is located in Jiangbei District, Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. It is a provincially governed key university in Zhejiang Province. It is a Chinese state Double First Class University Plan university, identified by the Mini ...

Ningbo Ningbo (; Ningbonese: ''gnin² poq⁷'' , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), formerly romanized as Ningpo, is a major sub-provincial city in northeast Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It comprises 6 urban districts, 2 sate ...

PRC China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in 1989 as a lecturer in English. He worked for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

's East Asia Research Dept. in London in 1989 as a researcher and translator and from 1991-2 as a freelance translator. He was a lecturer in Chinese at the

, Dept. of East Asian Studies from 1989–91, teaching modern & classical Chinese literature and language. He worked for the London School of Traditional Chinese Medicine from 1991-2 as a tutor/interpreter. He taught at the Civil Service College,

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a large village with a retail area and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England. It has a railway station on the (London) Waterloo to Reading ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

from 1991-2 as a Consultant Tutor providing management training. He taught at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

's Dept. of East Asian Studies from 1992-7 as a lecturer in Chinese, teaching modern & classical Chinese literature and language. He was at the Language Centre of the

University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a UK public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick univer ...

from 1997 - 9 as a lecturer in Chinese teaching Chinese language and Chinese-English translation. At the same university he was from 1993-7 a Lector in Chinese, teaching Chinese language. From 2000-2009 Holton worked at the

Hong Kong Polytechnic University The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) is a public research university located in Hung Hom, Hong Kong near Hung Hom station. The University is one of the eight government-funded degree-granting tertiary institutions in Hong Kong. Founded ...

, Department of Chinese & Bilingual Studies, teaching Chinese-English translation and cultural studies, as an Assistant Professor.

Marriage

Holton is married to Guo Ying (郭莹), an author of popular Chinese travel books.

Published works

With Herbert, W.N. and Yang, Lian eds (forthcoming 2010/11) ''Anthology of Contemporary Chinese Poetry'' (working title) Tarset:

Bloodaxe Books Bloodaxe Books is a British publishing house specializing in poetry. History Bloodaxe Books was founded in 1978 in Newcastle upon Tyne by Neil Astley, who is still editor and managing director. Bloodaxe moved its editorial office to Northumbe ...

. With Agnes Hung-Chong Chan: Yang Lian (2009) ''Lee Valley Poems''. Tarset: Bloodaxe Books Yang Lian (2008) ''Pisces Rising''. Exeter: Shearsman. With Jacob Edmond and Hilary Chung (2006): ''Yang Lian: Unreal City. A Chinese Poet in Auckland''. Auckland: Auckland University Press. With Harvey Holton: Yang Lian (2005) ''Whaur the Deep Sea Devauls''. Edinburgh, Kettillonia* With Agnes Hung-Chong Chan: Yang Lian (2005). ''Concentric Circles''. Tarset: Bloodaxe Books Yang Lian (2002) ''Notes of a Blissful Ghost: Selected Poems by Yang Lian''. HK: Renditions Paperback Yang Lian (2002) ''Darknesses'': trilingual (Chinese-Italian-English) edition. Rome: Play On Poetry Yang Lian (1999) ''Where the Sea Stands Still: New Poems by Yang Lian''. Newcastle: Bloodaxe Books. UK Poetry book Society Recommended Translation. Excerpts used by composer Liza Lim as the libretto of a piece for soprano and

guqin The ''guqin'' (; ) is a plucked seven-string Chinese musical instrument. It has been played since ancient times, and has traditionally been favoured by scholars and literati as an instrument of great subtlety and refinement, as highlighted b ...

commissioned by Festival d'Automne à Paris, 2005. Yang Lian, (1995) ''China Daily'': trilingual (Chinese-German-English) edition. Berlin: Schwartzkopf & Schwartzkopf Yang Lian (1995) ''Where the Sea Stands Still''. London: WellSweep Press. Yang Lian (1994) ''Non-Person Singular: Collected Shorter Poems of Yang Lia''n. London: WellSweep Press.

In Scots

"Staunin Ma Lane: Chinese Verse in Scots and English". Shearsman Books (2016) "The Nine Sangs" in ''Lallans'' 67. Blackford, Perthshire, Hairst 2005 With Harvey Holton: Yang Lian (2005) ''Whaur the Deep Sea Devauls''. Edinburgh, Kettillonia. "Frae the Nine Sangs: A wee Pendicle ti ‘Suddron Sangs’ bi Dauvit Hawkes" in May, R. & Minford, J. ed. (2003) A Birthday Book for Brother Stone HK: CUHK Press. ''Mossflow'' (article about and extract from my Scots version of Shuihu Zhuan –

Water Margin ''Water Margin'' (''Shuihu zhuan'') is one of the earliest Chinese novels written in vernacular Mandarin, and is attributed to Shi Nai'an. It is also translated as ''Outlaws of the Marsh'' and ''All Men Are Brothers''. The story, which is s ...

) at http://vladivostok.com/Speaking_In_Tongues/mossflow.html (May 1998) "On Luve" by Qiao Jifu:

Edinburgh Review The ''Edinburgh Review'' is the title of four distinct intellectual and cultural magazines. The best known, longest-lasting, and most influential of the four was the third, which was published regularly from 1802 to 1929. ''Edinburgh Review'', ...

No, 99, Edinburgh (March 1998) "Sangs": versions of Shi Jing poems, in Finlay, A., ed., Carmichael's Book, a homage to Alexander Carmichael's ' Carmina Gaedelica’, Artbook and Morning Star: Inverness and Edinburgh (1997) Yang Lian "Whaur the Deep Sea Devauls" Gairfish, Newcastle (1997) Poems by Li Bo, Tao Qian, etc.: in Stokes, T. (ed.) ''Water on the Border''. Yarrow: Weproductions (1994) Poems by Qiao Jifu and Ma Zhiyuan: Chapman 73, Edinburgh (1993) "Men o the Mossflow" (Shuihu Zhuan) cap. 5: Edinburgh Review 89, Edinburgh (1993) "Men o the Mossflow" cap. 4: Edinburgh Review 76 (1987) "Men o the Mossflow" cap. 3: Edinburgh Review 74 (1986) "Men o the Mossflow" cap. 2: Cencrastus 16, Edinburgh (1984) Lu Xun "Yin Wee Thing" (Yijian Xiao Shi) ''

Cencrastus ''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...

'' No. 13 (1983), Shen Jiji "The Cod" (Zhen-zhong Ji) Lallans 18, Edinburgh (1982) "Men o the Mossflow" cap. 1 pt. 2: ''

'' No. 8, Spring 1982, pp. 32 - 35, "Men o the Mossflow" cap. 1 pt. 1: ''

'' No. 7, Winter 1981-82, pp. 2 - 5,

CD-Rom

Chiho, Hoshino, City of Dead Poets. Poems by Yang Lian, CD-ROM, Karlsruhe: Cyperfection (2000) BH translations of Yang Lian incorporated into cyber artwork.

Audiotape/CD

Mossflow Glasgow: Scotsoun. Audiotape/CD of BH reading from Men o the Mossflow. (2002; CD 2005) see https://web.archive.org/web/20091208161124/http://www.lallans.co.uk/sscd%20135%20-%20The%20Mossflow%20-%20Brian%20Holton.html

Corpus texts

Nine Sangs and Mossflow selected for the Scottish Corpus of Texts & Speech, University of Glasgow. See http://www.scottishcorpus.ac.uk/corpus/search/document.php?documentid=1628

Articles

Review article: Twentieth-Century Chinese Women's Poetry: An Anthology. Edited and translated by Julia C. Lin. In '' Renditions'' Autumn 2010. Review article: Leo Tak-hung Chan (ed.) One into Many in ''The Translator'': Volume 15, Number 2, 2009: Special Issue. Chinese Discourses on Translation. p431-435 "老外侃中國": 鏡報月刊　August 2007 p92-93 A Foreigner Chats about China" Mirror Monthly "Driving to the Harbour of Heaven: Translating Yang Lian’s Concentric Circles" in Li Dingjun, ed. 《诗人译诗译诗为诗：中西诗歌翻译百年论集》Shanghai, (2007) Also at http://cipherjournal.com/html/holton.html oets Translating Poetry – Translated Poems as Poems: A Century of Collected Writings on Chinese-Western-Language Poetry Translation "Anent The Nine Sangs" in ''Lallans'' 67. Blackford, Perthshire, Hairst 2005 (in Scots) "Driving to the Harbour of Heaven: Translating Yang Lian’s Concentric Circles" in BH, with Agnes Hung-Chong Chan: Yang Lian ''Concentric Circles'' Tarset: Bloodaxe Books, (2005) "Wale A Leid An Wale A Warld: Shuihu Zhuan into Scots", in Findlay, W., ed., ''Frae Ither Tongues: Essays on Translations Into Scots'', Cleveden, Buffalo, Toronto, Sydney: Multilingual Matters (2004). ''Travelling With A Bitter Melon: Selected Poems'' (1973-1998) by Leung Ping-kwan Review article, at http://www.persimmon-mag.com/spring2003/bookreview11.html ''A Laowai on Laowai'' ("老外侃老外") in Guo, Ying 郭莹 Laowai Kan Zhongguo 老外侃中国, Beijing: Beijing Writers’ Press (2003). Trans. Zhang Xu "A Chuckie Stane for Hawkes" in May, R. & Minford, J. ed. (2003) ''A Birthday Book for Brother Stone'' Hong Kong: Chinese University Press "Translating Transgression" in Yang Lian tr. Holton, Brian ''Notes of a Blissful Ghost: Selected Poems by Yang Lian'' (HK: Renditions Paperback; 2002). "A Better Planet" ("未来美好的星球") in Guo, Ying 郭莹 Xiangshi Xifeng 相识西风, Guangzhou: Guangzhou People's Press (2001). Trans. Zhu Zhiyu. "Translating Yang Lian" in ''Where the Sea Stands Still: New Poems by Yang Lian'' Newcastle: Bloodaxe Books (1999) (extract from the above: ''Literary Review of Canada'' Oct. 2001, p5-6) "Translator’s Afterword" in ''Non-Person Singular: Collected Shorter Poems of Yang Lian''. London: WellSweep Press (1994) "A Solemn Joyousness: Death and Dying in the Tibetan Tradition": in Kaim-Caudle, P., Keithley. J., & Mullender, A. (eds.) ''Aspects of Ageing''. London: Whiting & Birch (1993). ''Original Instruments'', a review of ''The Exquisite Instrument'' by

Ron Butlin Ron Butlin (born 1949 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish poet and novelist who was Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2008 to 2014. Education Butlin was educated at the University of Edinburgh. He later became writer in residence in 1982 and 1984 a ...

, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), ''

'' No. 11, New Year 1983, p. 43, (17 short works on Scottish Borders history and topography, 1979–86)

Others

Fiction (in Scots)

"O Niver ti Dree Corruption Mair" in

Lallans Lallans (; a variant of the Modern Scots word ''lawlands'' meaning the lowlands of Scotland), is a term that was traditionally used to refer to the Scots language as a whole. However, more recent interpretations assume it refers to the dialects o ...

71, Blackford, Perthshire, 2008 poetry "Chemistry" at https://web.archive.org/web/20110712230923/http://www.humangenreproject.com/page.php?id=69 uploaded August 2009

Music

Traditional music of Scotland, Ireland and Northumberland, played on the (whistle,

Scottish smallpipes The Scottish smallpipe is a bellows-blown bagpipe re-developed by Colin Ross and many others, adapted from an earlier design of the instrument. There are surviving bellows-blown examples of similar historical instruments as well as the mouth-bl ...

, lap dulcimer, guitar, mandolin, and vocals) 2002-04 Hong Kong Ceilidh Band/New Atlantic Bridge 1985-88 Kelts Wells 1975-77 Blackcock Spinney 1973–present Solo performances of Scottish traditional music and song. {{DEFAULTSORT:Holton, Brian Scottish translators Living people 1949 births British expatriates in Nigeria Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Chinese–English translators People educated at Galashiels Academy People from Galashiels Chinese–Scots translators Literary translators Alumni of Durham University