Robin Robertson (born in 1955) is a Scottish poet.

Biography

Robertson was brought up on the north-east coast of Scotland, but has spent most of his professional life in London. After working as an editor at

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.Secker and Warburg Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

, he became poetry and fiction editor at Jonathan Cape. Robertson's poetry appears regularly in the '' London Review of Books'' and ''

The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...

'', and is represented in many anthologies. In 2004, he edited ''Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame'', which collects seventy commissioned pieces by international authors. In 2006 he published ''The Deleted World'', new versions of the Swedish poet

Tomas Tranströmer Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (; 15 April 1931 – 26 March 2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator. His poems captured the long Swedish winters, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. Tranströmer's ...

, and in 2008 a new translation of ''

Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; grc, Μήδεια, ''Mēdeia'', perhaps implying "planner / schemer") is the daughter of King Aeëtes of Colchis, a niece of Circe and the granddaughter of the sun god Helios. Medea figures in the myth of Jason an ...

'', which has been dramatised for stage and radio. Robertson was a trustee of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry (and is now a trustee emeritus).

Awards

Robertson's first volume of poetry, ''A Painted Field'', won the 1997

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 First Collection and the Scottish First Book of the Year Award. ''Slow Air'' followed in 2002, and his third book, ''Swithering'', was published in 2006, winning the Forward Prize for Best Collection. In 2004, Robertson received the E. M. Forster Award from

The American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, music, and art. Its fixed number membership is elected for lifetime appointments. Its headqu ...

. In 2009 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature He completed the set of Forward Prizes in 2009 when "At Roane Head" won the award for Best Single Poem. This poem is included in his fourth collection, ''The Wrecking Light'' (2010), a volume shortlisted for the 2010

, the Costa Poetry Award and 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 ...

. In 2013 he was honorably awarded the international, German

Petrarca-Preis Petrarca-Preis was a European literary and translation award named after the Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarca or Petrarch. Founded in 1975 by German art historian and publisher Hubert Burda, it was primarily designed for contemporary ...

, sharing it with

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

. In 2013, his book ''Hill of Doors'' was shortlisted for the

2013 Costa Book Awards The Costa Book Awards were a set of annual literary awards recognising English-language books by writers based in UK and Ireland. Originally named the Whitbread Book Awards from 1971 to 2005 after its first sponsor, the Whitbread company, then ...

(Poetry). His narrative poem, '' The Long Take'', won the

Goldsmiths Prize The Goldsmiths Prize is a British literary award, founded in 2013 by Goldsmiths, University of London, in association with the ''New Statesman.'' It is awarded annually to a piece of fiction that "breaks the mould or extends the possibilities of ...

for innovative fiction. In 2019 it won him the 10th

Walter Scott Prize The Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction is a British literary award founded in 2010.Walter Sc ...

, making him the first Scot and first poet to win the award. It was shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize. In 2019 he was a contributor to ''A New Divan: A Lyrical Dialogue Between East and West (''Gingko Library).

Poetry collections

* ''A Painted Field'' Picador, 1997. ; Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999, * ''Slow Air'', Harcourt, 2002. *(editor) * *

, ''The Deleted World'' Enitharmon Press, 2006. *

Euripides Euripides (; grc, Εὐριπίδης, Eurīpídēs, ; ) was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars a ...

, ''Medea'', Random House, 2008. * * ''Hill of Doors'', Picador, 2013. * ''Sailing the Forest: Selected Poems'', Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. *

, ''Bacchae'', Harper Collins, 2014. * '' The Long Take'', Picador, 2018. * ''

Grimoire A grimoire ( ) (also known as a "book of spells" or a "spellbook") is a textbook of magic, typically including instructions on how to create magical objects like talismans and amulets, how to perform magical spells, charms and divination, and ...

'', Picador, 2020.

References

External links

*
"A Celtic Mage’s Muses"
''Open Letters Monthly'', Marc Vincenz
Griffin Poetry Prize biography

Poetry Archive profile, with poems and audio recordings

Contemporary Writers profile.

Profile at the Poetry Foundation

Robertson poems at Poets.org

" ''The Wrecking Light'' by Robin Robertson", Review of the collection ''Guardian'' 20 February 2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Robin Living people Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature 1955 births Translators of Ancient Greek texts Walter Scott Prize winners Goldsmiths Prize winners