Rab Wilson (born 1 September 1960, in

New Cumnock New Cumnock is a town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It expanded during the coal-mining era from the late 18th century, and mining remained its key industry until its pits were shut in the 1960s. The town is southeast of Cumnock, and east of Ayr. ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

) is a Scottish poet who writes mainly in the

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonly ...

. His works include a Scots translation of the

Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam ''Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám'' is the title that Edward FitzGerald gave to his 1859 translation from Persian to English of a selection of quatrains (') attributed to Omar Khayyam (1048–1131), dubbed "the Astronomer-Poet of Persia". Altho ...

, and the poetry books ''Accent o the Mind'', ''Life Sentence'', and ''A Map for the Blind''.

Life

He held an engineering apprenticeship with the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

, working at Barony Pit in Ayrshire, but gave up mining as a result of the

UK miners' strike (1984–1985) UK miners' strike may refer to: *UK miners' strike (1893) *South Wales miners' strike (1910) * National coal strike of 1912 *UK miners' strike (1921) *UK miners' strike (1953) *UK miners' strike (1969), a widespread unofficial strike *UK miners' st ...

and instead trained as a

psychiatric nurse Psychiatric nursing or mental health nursing is the appointed position of a nurse that specialises in mental health, and cares for people of all ages experiencing mental illnesses or distress. These include: neurodevelopmental disorders, schizoph ...

. As well as poetry, he has also campaigned on health issues, for the rights of health workers to speak openly about their concerns and act as

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

s. In 2012 he spoke to lawyers at the 4th European Collaborative Conference. He is closely connected with Scottish national poet

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

, who was also from Ayrshire. Wilson worked on the project ''Burnsiana'' with Calum Colvin and discovered that Burns may have taken part of '' Tam O' Shanter'' from English poet

Edmund Bolton :''This is an article about the 17th-century poet. For the reality TV participant, see Beauty and the Geek (UK TV series)'' Edmund Mary Bolton (c.1575–c.1633) was an English historian and poet who was born, by his own account, in 1575. Life N ...

. In 2013 he was selected as the first James Hogg Creative Resident, living and writing in Ettrick Valley, home of the poet and writer

James Hogg James Hogg (1770 – 21 November 1835) was a Scottish poet, novelist and essayist who wrote in both Scots and English. As a young man he worked as a shepherd and farmhand, and was largely self-educated through reading. He was a friend of many ...

. He won the 2008 McCash Scots poetry competition. In 2009 he jokingly threatened to behead Conservative politician Kenneth Baker while giving the address to the haggis at the Wordsworth Trust Book Festival Burns Night.

Works

''The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam''

His free translation of ''The Ruba'iyat of Omar Khayyam'' was published in 2010.

''The Jolly Beggars''

Wilson adapted

' ''The Jolly Beggars'' for the stage. It was a runner-up for the 2007 McLellan Award for Play Writing.

''Ye're There Horace!''

''Ye're There Horace!'' was an

art book Artists' books (or book arts or book objects) are works of art that utilize the form of the book. They are often published in small editions, though they are sometimes produced as one-of-a-kind objects. Overview Artists' books have employed a ...

based on the Roman satirist

Horace Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his ' ...

, made in conjunction with artist

Hugh Bryden Hugh may refer to: *Hugh (given name) Noblemen and clergy French * Hugh the Great (died 956), Duke of the Franks * Hugh Magnus of France (1007–1025), co-King of France under his father, Robert II * Hugh, Duke of Alsace (died 895), modern-day ...

''Burnsiana''

''Burnsiana'' is a collaboration with artist

Calum Colvin Calum Colvin (born Glasgow, 1961) is a Scottish artist whose work combines photography, painting, and installation, and often deals with issues of Scottish identity and culture and with the history of art. He has had solo exhibitions at the Scott ...

, producing an art exhibition and book featuring poems written by Wilson in response to the work of Robert Burns. Colvin produced artworks by painting Burns-related images onto rooms full of objects.

Other poetry

His other works include the 15-sonnet sequence ''1957 Flying Scot'', a tribute to a Scottish bicycle manufacturer's marque, Flying Scot. The sequence has been performed as far afield as

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

References

External links

Article by Wilson about his health service whistleblowing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Rab Scottish poets 1960 births People from East Ayrshire Living people Scottish nurses