Ghosts at Cockcrow

Conn, Stewart

ISBN 10: 1852246863 / ISBN 13: 9781852246860

Published by Bloodaxe Books, Tarset, 2005

About this Item

2005. 96pp. "Stewart Conn is one of Scotland's leading poets. His 'Stolen Light: Selected Poems' was widely praised for its evocations of the land, people and farms of his Ayrshire boyhood, and for his 'unnerving sense of the fragility of life (Douglas Dunn). This new book includes many poems written during his three years as Edinburgh's first Poet Laureate." Author's signature without inscription to title page. The book is otherwise in excellent condition. There are no other inscriptions and all contents are tight and clean. Seller Inventory # ScotPoetConn007

Bibliographic Details

Title: Ghosts at Cockcrow

Publisher: Bloodaxe Books, Tarset

Publication Date: 2005

Binding: Soft cover

Condition: Near Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Stewart Conn is one of Scotland's leading poets. His Stolen Light: Selected Poems was widely praised for its evocations of the land, people and farms of his Ayrshire boyhood, and for his 'unnerving sense of the fragility of life' (douglas dunn). This new book includes many poems written during his three years as Edinburgh's first Poet Laureate. In the title-sequence, Ghosts at Cockcrow - set in Burgundy - he reflects on the transience of beauty and the vulner-ability of our lives. But whether revelling in landscape or cities, or marvelling at the durability of love, Stewart Conn's tone is always affirmative. He celebrates the affections, and observes the passage of time, often through works of art. And he conjures up - exhilaratingly and often with wry humour - settings as diverse as museums and stage sets, trout-lochs and mountain slopes, Barcelona's Ramblas and Edinburgh's Royal Mile.

About the Author:

Stewart Conn was born in Glasgow in 1936 and grew up in Ayrshire, the setting for much of his early poetry. Since 1977 he has lived in Edinburgh, where until 1992 he was based as BBC Scotland's head of radio drama. He was Edinburgh’s first Makar or Poet Laureate in 2002-05. His poetry books include Stolen Light: Selected Poems (1999), Ghosts at Cockcrow (2005), The Breakfast Room (2010) and The Touch of Time: New & Selected Poems (2014) from Bloodaxe. His other publications include a memoir, Distances (Scottish Cultural Press, 2001), and two anthologies, 100 Favourite Scottish Poems (SPL/Luath Press, 2006), a TLS Christmas choice, and 100 Favourite Scottish Love Poems (Luath Press, 2008). He has won three Scottish Arts Council book awards, travel awards from the Society of Authors and the English-Speaking Union, and the Institute of Contemporary Scotland’s first Iain Crichton Smith award for services to literature. An Ear to the Ground was a Poetry Book Society Choice, Stolen Light was shortlisted for Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, and The Breakfast Room won the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards Poetry Book of the Year Prize.