Katrina Porteous (born 1960 in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

) is a Scottish poet, historian and broadcaster. Her particular interests include the inshore fishing community of the

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

coast, and the cultural and natural history of that area.

Biography

Katrina Porteous was born in

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 ...

in 1960. She grew up in County

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county *Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in No ...

. She studied history at Cambridge, graduating in 1982. Afterwards, she studied in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

on a

Harkness Fellowship The Harkness Fellowship (previously known as the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship) is a program run by the Commonwealth Fund of New York City. This fellowship was established to reciprocate the Rhodes Scholarships and enable Fellows from several cou ...

. In 1989 she won an

Eric Gregory Award The Eric Gregory Award is a literary award given annually by the Society of Authors for a collection by British poets under the age of 30. The award was founded in 1960 by Dr. Eric Gregory to support and encourage young poets. In 2021, the seven ...

, and has since received awards from Arts Council England and the Arts Foundation. Many of the poems in her first collection, ''The Lost Music'' (

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 ...

, 1996), focus on the Northumbrian fishing community. Her prose books on the subject include ''The Bonny Fisher Lad'' (People’s History, 2003) and ''Limekilns and Lobster Pots'' (Jardine Press, 2013). She also writes in Northumbrian dialect, as in ''The Wund an’ the Wetter'', recorded on CD with piper Chris Ormston (Iron Press, 1999). She is President of th
Northumbrian Language Society
and an ambassador for New Networks for Nature. Since 2000 she has specialised in radio poetry, much of it with BBC producer Julian May. Works include ''Longshore Drift'', ''Dunstanburgh'' and ''The Refuge Box''. Her second full-length collection from

, ''Two Countries'' (2014), includes some of these poems. She has been involved in many collaborations with other artists and musicians. In 2000 she worked with composer

Alistair Anderson The High Level Ranters are a Northumbrian traditional musical group founded in 1964, best known for being one of the first bands in the revival of the Northumbrian smallpipes. Name and history The name was chosen as a combination of the locat ...

on the musical ''Tam Lin''. Most recently she has collaborated with digital composer

Peter Zinovieff Peter Zinovieff (26 January 1933 – 23 June 2021) was a British engineer and composer. In the late 1960s, his company, Electronic Music Studios (EMS), made the VCS3, a synthesizer used by many early progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd a ...

on ''Horse'' (2011, about the 3,000-year-old

Uffington White Horse The Uffington White Horse is a prehistoric hill figure, long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of White Horse Hill in the English civil parish of Uffington (in the cerem ...

), and ''Edge'' (2013, a poem in four moons for the

Centre for Life The Centre for Life is a science village in Newcastle upon Tyne where scientists, clinicians, educationalists and business people work to promote the advancement of the life sciences. The centre is a registered charity, governed by a board of ...

planetarium, Newcastle). In August 2017 she collaborated with the composer and performer Alexis Bennett on "Sea, Sky, Stars" at Dartington International Festival.

References

External links

Biographical note at Bloodaxe Books

Katrina Porteous' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porteous, Katrina Living people 1960 births 21st-century Scottish poets Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Scottish women poets 21st-century Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish poets 20th-century Scottish women writers