Michael Ogilvie Imlah (26 September 1956 – 12 January 2009), better known as Mick Imlah, was a Scottish poet and editor.

Background

Imlah was brought up in

Milngavie Milngavie ( ; gd, Muileann-Ghaidh) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland and a suburb of Glasgow. It is on the Allander Water, at the northwestern edge of Greater Glasgow, and about from Glasgow city centre. It neighbours Bearsden. Milngav ...

near

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, before moving to

Beckenham Beckenham () is a town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley, in Greater London. Until 1965 it was part of the historic county of Kent. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, situated north of Elmers End and E ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, in 1966. He was educated at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

, where he subsequently taught as a Junior Fellow. He helped revive the historic ''

Oxford Poetry ''Oxford Poetry'' is a literary magazine based in Oxford, England. It is currently edited by Luke Allan. The magazine is published by Partus Press. Founded in 1910 by Basil Blackwell, its editors have included Dorothy L. Sayers, Aldous Huxley ...

'' before editing ''

Poetry Review ''Poetry Review'' is the magazine of The Poetry Society, edited by the poet Emily Berry. Founded in 1912, shortly after the establishment of the Society, previous editors have included poets Muriel Spark, Adrian Henri, Andrew Motion and Maurice R ...

'' from 1983–6, and then worked at the ''

Times Literary Supplement ''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp. History The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...

'' from 1992. His collection ''The Lost Leader'' (2008) won the

Forward Prize The Forward Prizes for Poetry are major British awards for poetry, presented annually at a public ceremony in London. They were founded in 1992 by William Sieghart with the aim of celebrating excellence in poetry and increasing its audience. The ...

for Best Collection, and was shortlisted for the 2009 International

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, the awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. ...

. Imlah died in January 2009, aged 52, as a result of

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

. He was diagnosed with this disease in December 2007. An issue of ''Oxford Poetry'' was dedicated to his memory.

Alan Hollinghurst Alan James Hollinghurst (born 26 May 1954) is an English novelist, poet, short story writer and translator. He won the 1989 Somerset Maugham Award, the 1994 James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the 2004 Booker Prize. Early life and education H ...

dedicated his 2011 novel '' The Stranger's Child'' to Imlah's memory; the final section of the novel has the epigraph 'No one remembers you at all' from Imlah's poem 'In Memoriam Alfred Lord Tennyson'. A selection of Imlah's poetry, edited by Mark Ford and with an introduction by Alan Hollinghurst, was published by Faber and Faber in 2010. A selection of his prose appeared in 2015.

Bibliography

As author

* ''The Zoologist’s Bath'' (Oxford: Sycamore Press, 1982), 15 pages, * ''Birthmarks'', the first full book of his poetry (Chatto & Windus, 1988), 56 pages, * ''Penguin New Poets 3:

Glyn Maxwell Glyn Maxwell (born 1962) is a British poet, playwright, novelist, librettist, and lecturer. Early life Of primarily Welsh heritage — his mother Buddug-Mair Powell (b. 1928) acted in the original stage show of Dylan Thomas's ''Under Milk Wood'' ...

, Mick Imlah,

Peter Reading Peter Reading (27 July 1946 – 17 November 2011) was an English poet and the author of 26 collections of poetry. He is known for his deep interest for the nature and use of classical metres. ''The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry'' de ...

'' (1994), * ''Diehard'', booklet (

Clutag Press The Clutag Press was established in 2000 as a venture by Andrew McNeillie to issue Clutag Poetry Leaflets, by established and emerging poets. In 2004, it received backing from The Christopher Tower Fund (in association with Christ Church, Oxfo ...

, 2006) * ''The Lost Leader'', the second full book of his poetry before his death (

Faber and Faber Faber and Faber Limited, usually abbreviated to Faber, is an independent publishing house in London. Published authors and poets include T. S. Eliot (an early Faber editor and director), W. H. Auden, Margaret Storey, William Golding, Samuel B ...

, 2008),

As editor

* ''Dr. Wortle's School'' by

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...

(Imlah wrote the introduction and notes; Penguin Classics, 1999), * ''The New Penguin Book of Scottish Verse'' (with Robert Crawford), 2000), * ''A Century of Poems'' (with Alan Jenkins), Times Supplements Ltd, 2002), 136 pp, * ''The TLS On Shakespeare'' (The Times, 2003), 178 pp, * ''Alfred, Lord Tennyson: Poems Selected by Mick Imlah'' (

, 2004), * ''

Edwin Muir Edwin Muir CBE (15 May 1887 – 3 January 1959) was a Scottish poet, novelist and translator. Born on a farm in Deerness, a parish of Orkney, Scotland, he is remembered for his deeply felt and vivid poetry written in plain language and w ...

Selected Poems'' (

, 2008),

Posthumous

* ''Mick Imlah: Selected Poems'' Edited by Mark Ford and introduced by Alan Hollinghurst (

, 2010), * ''Mick Imlah: Selected Prose'' Edited by André Naffis-Sahely and Robert Selby ( Peter Lang, 2015),

References

External links

Imlah profile at the Poetry Archive

"Mick Imlah: the lost talent" 27 November 2010. ''Guardian''

Griffin Poetry Prize biography, including video clip of reading of Imlah poem"Mick Imlah 1956–2009"
a collection of poems by Imlah, reviews of his books and his own essays fro
TLS
January 12, 2009
Late poet's Griffin nomination delights loved ones
{{DEFAULTSORT:Imlah, Mick Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford Scottish magazine editors Deaths from motor neuron disease Neurological disease deaths in the United Kingdom 1956 births 2009 deaths People from Milngavie 20th-century Scottish poets Scottish male poets 20th-century British male writers