Donald Paterson (born 1963) is a Scottish poet, writer and musician.

Background

Don Paterson was born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland, in 1963. He 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 seve ...

in 1990 and his poem "A Private Bottling" won the

Arvon Foundation The Arvon Foundation is a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom that promotes creative writing. Arvon is one of Arts Council England's National Portfolio Organisations. Andrew Kidd is the Chief Executive Officer, Patricia Cumper is Cha ...

International Poetry Competition in 1993. He was included on the list of 20 poets chosen for the

Poetry Society The Poetry Society is a membership organisation, open to all, whose stated aim is "to promote the study, use and enjoyment of poetry". The society was founded in London in February 1909 as the Poetry Recital Society, becoming the Poetry Society ...

's 1994 "

New Generation Poets The New Generation Poets is a group of 1994 British poets whose work was featured in a month-long nationwide festival, many of the writers going on to considerable popular success. The 20 poets were chosen by a panel of judges comprising Melvyn Brag ...

" promotion. In 2002 he was awarded a

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from th ...

Creative Scotland Award. His first collection of poetry, ''Nil Nil'' (1993), won the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. ''God's Gift to Women'' (1997) won the

T. S. Eliot Prize The T. S. Eliot Prize for Poetry is a prize that was, for many years, awarded by the Poetry Book Society (UK) to "the best collection of new verse in English first published in the UK or the Republic of Ireland" in any particular year. The Priz ...

and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. ''The Eyes'', adaptations of the work of Spanish poet

Antonio Machado Antonio Cipriano José María y Francisco de Santa Ana Machado y Ruiz (26 July 1875 – 22 February 1939), known as Antonio Machado, was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation ...

(1875–1939), was published in 1999. He is also editor of ''101 Sonnets: From

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Heaney Heaney is a surname of Irish origin. It is an Anglicisation of the Gaelic ''Ó hEignigh'', thought to be based on the Gaelic a personal name meaning "horseman". It was mistakenly thought to derive from Éan, Gaelic for Bird. Versions of it ar ...

'' (1999) and of ''Last Words: New Poetry for the New Century'' (1999) with

Jo Shapcott Jo Shapcott FRSL (born 24 March 1953, London) is an English poet, editor and lecturer who has won the National Poetry Competition, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Costa Book of the Year Award, a Forward Poetry Prize and the Cholmondeley Aw ...

. His collection of poems, '' Landing Light'' (2003), won both the 2003

and the 2003 Whitbread Poetry Award. He has also published three collections of aphorisms, ''The Book of Shadows'' (2004), ''The Blind Eye'' (2007) and ''Best Thought, Worst Thought'' (2008). ''Orpheus'', his version of

Rilke René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), shortened to Rainer Maria Rilke (), was an Austrian poet and novelist. He has been acclaimed as an idiosyncratic and expressive poet, and is widely recogn ...

's ''Die Sonette an Orpheus'', was published in 2006. Paterson teaches in the school of English at the

University of St Andrews (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

and is poetry editor for the London publishers Picador. An accomplished jazz guitarist, he works solo and for ten years ran the jazz-folk ensemble Lammas, with Tim Garland. In 2012, Paterson wrote an open letter in '' The Herald'' criticising Scotland's arts funding council

Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The or ...

. In 2012–13, he was the Weidenfeld Visiting Professor of European Comparative Literature in St Anne's College, Oxford.

Honours and awards

He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the

2008 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2008 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as part of the Queen's Of ...

. He was awarded the

Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry The Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry is awarded for a book of verse published by someone in any of the Commonwealth realms. Originally the award was open only to British subjects living in the United Kingdom, but in 1985 the scope was extended to in ...

in the

2010 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2010 were announced on 31 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Christopher and NevisSaint Christ ...

. In 2015 Paterson was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * Winner of the Forward Poetry Prize for Best First Collection. * *'' The Eyes'' after

Machado Machado is a surname of Portuguese origin meaning the word "axe" or "hatchet" dating back to approximately 2nd century Europe. It is commonly found in Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Latin America, and India (Southern Tamil Nadu and Southern Kerala) d ...

, Faber & Faber, 1999, *''

White Lie A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies can be int ...

'' Graywolf Press, 2001, * ''Landing Light'' (2003) *''

Orpheus Orpheus (; Ancient Greek: Ὀρφεύς, classical pronunciation: ; french: Orphée) is a Thracian bard, legendary musician and prophet in ancient Greek religion. He was also a renowned poet and, according to the legend, travelled with J ...

'' (2006), after

* Winner of Forward Poetry Prize *''Selected Poems'', Faber & Faber, 2012, *''40 Sonnets'', Faber & Faber, 2015, (shortlisted for the 2016

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 languag ...

) *Contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West.'' Gingko Library, 2019. *''Zonal'', Faber & Faber, 2020, *''The Arctic'', Faber & Faber, 2022 ;Anthologies *''101 Sonnets'' (1999) *''Last Words'' (1999) with (

) *''Robert Burns'', poems selected by Don Paterson (2001) *'' New British Poetry'' with

Charles Simic Dušan Simić ( sr-cyr, Душан Симић, ; born May 9, 1938), known as Charles Simic, is a Serbian American poet and former co-poetry editor of the ''Paris Review''. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1990 for ''The World Doesn' ...

, Grayworf Press, 2004, ;List of poems

Plays

*'' The Land of Cakes'' (with Gordon McPherson) (2001) *'' A'body's Aberdee'' (2001)

Radio drama

*'' Kailyard Blues'' (1999) *'' Ringing the Changes'' (1999) with (

) *'' The Aberdee Brief'' (2000) *'' The Latecomers'' (2001)

Aphorisms

*''The Book of Shadows'' Picador, 2004, *''The Blind Eye'' (2007) *''Best Thought, Worst Thought'' (2008)

Criticism

* *''Smith: A Reader's Guide to the Poetry of Michael Donaghy'' (2014) *

Critical studies and reviews of Paterson's work

* *

References

External links

Poet's official website"Private Enterprise for the Public Good" John Stammers interviews Don Paterson. No 12 - Spring 1998 ''Magma''Paterson profile at Poetry FoundationBiography and bibliography at British Council Contemporary Writers siteBiography, poetry excerpts from Griffin Poetry Prize website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paterson, Don 1963 births Living people Academics of the University of St Andrews Aphorists Costa Book Award winners Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature Formalist poets Journalists from Dundee Musicians from Dundee Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Dundee Poets from Dundee Print editors Scottish journalists Scottish poets The New Yorker people T. S. Eliot Prize winners