Ron Butlin

For the Canadian ice hockey executive, see Ron Butlin (ice hockey).

Ron Butlin (born 1949 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish poet and novelist who was Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2008 to 2014.^[1]

Ron Butlin

Education

Butlin was educated at the University of Edinburgh.^[2] He later became writer in residence in 1982 and 1984 at the university.

Bibliography

He has written several novels, collections of short stories, poems and plays. His work has been widely anthologised in Britain and abroad, and translated into over a dozen languages. His debut novel, The Sound Of My Voice, was republished in 2002 with an introduction by Irvine Welsh who called it “one of the greatest pieces of fiction to come out of Britain in the Eighties”.

Butlin is married to the Scottish-Swiss novelist and short story writer Regi Claire.

Opera Libretto

He has written seven libretti for opera, mostly for Scottish Opera, and frequently in collaboration with composer Lyell Cresswell.^[3]

Bibliography

Novels

• The Sound of My Voice (1987)
• Night Visits (1997)
• Belonging (2006)
• Ghost Moon (2014)

Short Story Collections

• The Tilting Room (1983)^[4]
• Vivaldi and the Number 3 and Other Impossible Stories (2004)
• No More Angels (2007)

Poetry

• The Wonnerfuu Warld o John Milton (1974)
• Stretto (1976)
• Creatures Tamed by Cruelty (1979)
• The Exquisite Instrument: Imitations from the Chinese (1982)
• Ragtime in Unforgettable Bars (1985)
• Histories of Desire (1995)
• Without a Backward Glance (2005)
• The Magicians of Edinburgh (2012)
• The Magicians of Scotland (2015)
• Here Come the Trolls! (verse for children, 2015)
• The Offering (2017)^[5]

Reviews

• Murray, Glen (1980), review of Creatures Claimed by Cruelty, in Cencrastus No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 43 – 45
• Holton, Brian (1983), review of The Exquisite Instrument, in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), Cencrastus No. 11, New Year 1983, p. 43, ISSN 0264-0856

Opera

• Markheim
• Dark Kingdom
• Faraway Pictures
• Good Angel, Bad Angel
• The Perfect Woman
• The Money Man
• Wedlock

References

1. Richard Baines (14 September 2010). The New Paper Families: An Anthology of Short Short Stories. Cambridge University Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-521-15728-5. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
2. "Ron Butlin". British Council. Literature. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
3. Smith, Rowena (16 May 2010). "Five:15". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2010.
4. Wallace, Gavin (2012). "Ron Butlin". Scottish Poetry Library. Poets: Scottish Arts Council. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
5. "Poem – Soothe".