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Robin Robertson

ロビン・ロバートソン

Robin Robertson

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1955 （Scone, Perthshire, Scotland）
Nationality
Scottish, British
Languages
English
Religion
Unknown
Residence History
North-east coast of Scotland → London

Career

Occupations
Poet, Editor
Active Years
1997-2020
Affiliations
Penguin Books, Secker and Warburg, Jonathan Cape, Royal Society of Literature
Memberships
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL), Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry (trustee emeritus)
Nominations
T. S. Eliot Prize shortlist (The Wrecking Light), Costa Poetry Award shortlist (The Wrecking Light), Costa Book Award for Poetry shortlist (Hill of Doors), Man Booker Prize shortlist (The Long Take)

Awards

Forward Prize
1997
Work: A Painted Field
Category: Best First Collection
Organization: Forward Prizes for Poetry
Result: winner
Scottish First Book of the Year Award
1997
Work: A Painted Field
Result: winner
Forward Prize
2006
Work: Swithering
Category: Best Collection
Organization: Forward Prizes for Poetry
Result: winner
E. M. Forster Award
2004
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: winner
Walter Scott Prize
2019
Work: The Long Take
Result: winner
Goldsmiths Prize
2018
Work: The Long Take
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Painted Field

1997 Poetry

Robertson's first poetry collection.

NatureLandscape

Swithering

2006 Poetry

Winner of Forward Prize Best Collection.

MythSelkie

The Wrecking Light

2010 Poetry

Poetry collection shortlisted for several prizes.

The Long Take

2018 Narrative poem

Narrative poem set in Hollywood, winner of multiple prizes.

WarFilmLoss

Bibliography

  • A Painted Field (1997)
  • Slow Air (2002)
  • Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame (2004, ed.)
  • Swithering (2006)
  • The Deleted World (2006, tr. Tomas Tranströmer)
  • Medea (2008, tr. Euripides)
  • The Wrecking Light (2010)
  • Hill of Doors (2013)
  • Sailing the Forest: Selected Poems (2014)
  • Bacchae (2014, tr. Euripides)
  • The Long Take (2018)
  • Grimoire (2020)

Translations by Author

  • Translations of Tomas Tranströmer
  • Translation of Euripides' Medea
  • Translation of Euripides' Bacchae

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Rhythmic languageMythic imagery
Recurring Motifs
SelkieNature and humanityLoss

Legacy

Scottish poet renowned for multiple Forward Prize wins and international acclaim for the narrative poem The Long Take.

Quotes

  • "I'm not stopping," he said, shrugging off his skin like a wet-suit, then stretching it on the bodhran's frame, "let's play."
    Source: Swithering (2006) (2006)

Trivia

  • First Scot and first poet to win the Walter Scott Prize.
  • Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (FRSL).