John Burnside Explained

Honorific Suffix:	FRSL FRSE
Birth Date:	1955 3, df=y
Birth Place:	Dunfermline, Scotland
Occupation:	Writer
Education:	Cambridge College of Arts and Technology
Notable Works:	The Hoop Common Knowledge A Lie About My Father Black Cat Bone

John Burnside FRSL FRSE (19 March 1955 – 29 May 2024) was a Scottish writer. He was one of four poets (with Ted Hughes, Sean O'Brien and Jason Allen-Paisant) to have won the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for one book. In Burnside's case it was for his 2011 collection, Black Cat Bone. In 2023, he won the David Cohen Prize.^[1]

Life and works

Burnside was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, and raised in Cowdenbeath and Corby.^{[2] [3]} He studied English and European Thought and Literature at Cambridge College of Arts and Technology. A former computer software engineer, he was a freelance writer after 1996.^[4] He was a former Writer in Residence at the University of Dundee and was Professor in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews,^[5] where he taught creative writing, literature and ecology and American poetry.^[6]

His first collection of poetry, The Hoop, was published in 1988 and won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award. Other poetry collections by Burnside include Common Knowledge (1991), Feast Days (1992), winner of the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, and The Asylum Dance (2000), winner of the Whitbread Poetry Award and shortlisted for both the Forward Poetry Prize (Best Poetry Collection of the Year) and the T. S. Eliot Prize. The Light Trap (2001) was also shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize.

Burnside was also the author of two collections of short stories, Burning Elvis (2000), and Something Like Happy (2013), as well as several novels, including The Dumb House (1997), The Devil's Footprints, (2007), Glister, (2009) and A Summer of Drowning, (2011). His multi-award winning memoir, A Lie About My Father, was published in 2006 and its successor, Waking Up In Toytown, in 2010.^[7] A Lie About My Father earned him the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year in 2006, alongside the Sundial Scottish Arts Council Non-fiction Book of the Year and the CORINE International Literature Prize.^[8] In 2008 he won the Cholmondeley Award. A further memoir, I Put A Spell On You, combined personal history with reflections on romantic love, magic and popular music. His short stories and feature essays have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including The New Yorker, The Guardian and The London Review of Books, among others. He also wrote an occasional nature column for the New Statesman. In 2011 he received the Petrarca-Preis, a major German international literary prize.^[9]

Burnside's work was inspired by his engagement with nature, environment and deep ecology.^[10] His collection of short stories, Something Like Happy, was published in 2013.^[11]

Burnside was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature (elected in 1999)^[12] and in March 2016 was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's National Academy for science and letters.^[13]

He also lectured annually and oversaw the judging of the writing prize at the Alpine Fellowship.^[14]

Burnside died after a short illness on 29 May 2024, at the age of 69.^{[15] [16]}

Awards

• 1988: Scottish Arts Council Book Award, for The Hoop^[17]
• 1991: Scottish Arts Council Book Award, for Common Knowledge^[18]
• 1994: Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, for Feast Days^[19]
• 1999: Encore Award for The Mercy Boys^[20]
• 2000: Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection – shortlist), for The Asylum Dance^[17]
• 2000: T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist), for The Asylum Dance^[18]
• 2000: Whitbread Book Award, Poetry Award, for The Asylum Dance^[21]
• 2002: Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award (shortlist), for The Light Trap^[18]
• 2002: T. S. Eliot Prize (shortlist), for The Light Trap^[18]
• 2005: Forward Poetry Prize (Best Collection – shortlist), for The Good Neighbour^[18]
• 2006: Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award for A Lie About My Father^[22]
• 2008: Cholmondeley Award^[23]
• 2011: Petrarca-Preis^[9]
• 2011: PEN/Ackerley Prize (shortlist) for Waking Up in Toytown^[24]
• 2011: Corine Literature Prize for A Lie About My Father^[25]
• 2011: Forward Prize for Black Cat Bone^[26]
• 2011: Costa Book Awards (Novel), shortlist, A Summer of Drowning^[27]
• 2011: T. S. Eliot Prize for Black Cat Bone^[28]
• 2012: Spycher: Literaturpreis Leuk with Judith Schalansky^[29]
• 2013: Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award for Something Like Happy^[22]
• 2017: Hörspiel des Jahres für Coldhaven, translation. composition and directing: Klaus Buhlert (SWR)^[30]
• 2018: Hörspielpreis der Kriegsblinden für Coldhaven. translation. composition and directing: Klaus Buhlert (SWR)^{[31] [32]}
• 2022: Michael Marks Awards for Poetry Pamphlets for Apostasy^[33]
• 2023: David Cohen Prize^[1]

Bibliography

Poetry collections

• The Hoop (Carcanet, 1988)^[34]
• Common Knowledge (Secker and Warburg, London, 1991)^[34]
• Feast Days (Secker and Warburg, London, 1992)^[34]
• The Myth of the Twin (Jonathan Cape, London, 1994)^[34]
• Swimming in the Flood (Jonathan Cape, London, 1995)^[34]
• Penguin Modern Poets (Penguin, 1996)^[35]
• A Normal Skin (Jonathan Cape, London, 1997)^[36]
• The Asylum Dance (Jonathan Cape, London, 2000)^[34]
• The Light Trap (Jonathan Cape, London, 2002)^[34]
• A Poet's Polemic (2003)^[37]
• The Good Neighbour (Jonathan Cape, 2005)^[34]
• Selected Poems (Jonathan Cape, 2006)^[34]
• Gift Songs (Jonathan Cape, 2007)^[38]
• The Hunt in the Forest (Jonathan Cape, 2009)^[34]
• Black Cat Bone (Jonathan Cape, 2011)^[34]
• All One Breath (Jonathan Cape, 2014)^{[39] [40] [41]}
• Still Life with Feeding Snake (Jonathan Cape, 2017)^[34]
• In the Name of the Bee/Im Namen der Biene (Golden Luft, Mainz 2018)^[34]
• Learning to Sleep (Jonathan Cape, 2021)^[34]
• Apostasy (Dare-Gale Press, 2022)^[33]
• Apostasy/Apostasie (Golden Luft, Mainz 2023)^[42]

Fiction

• The Dumb House (Jonathan Cape, London, 1997)^{[36] [43]}
• The Mercy Boys (Jonathan Cape, London, 1999)^[35]
• Burning Elvis (Jonathan Cape, London, 2000)^[35]
• The Locust Room (Jonathan Cape, London, 2001)^[35]
• Living Nowhere (Jonathan Cape, London, 2003)^[44]
• The Devil's Footprints (Jonathan Cape, 2007)^[35]
• Glister (Jonathan Cape, 2008)^[45]
• A Summer of Drowning (Jonathan Cape, 2011)^[46]
• Something Like Happy (Jonathan Cape, 2013)^[35]
• Ashland & Vine (Jonathan Cape, 2017)^[47]
• Havergey (Little Toller, 2017)^[48]

Non-fiction

• Wild Reckoning (Gulbenkian, 2004), joint editor with Maurice Riordan of this anthology of ecology-related poems^[35]
• A Lie About My Father (biography, 2006)^[35]
• Wallace Stevens : poems / selected by John Burnside (Poet to Poet Series, Faber and Faber, 2008)^[49]
• Waking up in Toytown (biography, Jonathan Cape, 2010)^[7]
• I Put a Spell on You (biography, Jonathan Cape, 2014)^[50]
• Book: On Henry Miller. Princeton University Press. 2018. 9780691166872. ^[51]
• The Music of Time: Poetry in the Twentieth Century (literary criticism, 2019)^[52]
• Aurochs and Auks: Essays on mortality and extinction (Little Toller Books, 2021)^[53]

Screen

• Dice (with A. L. Kennedy), a series for television, produced by Cité-Amérique, Canada^[54]

Critical studies

• John Burnside: Contemporary Critical Perspectives (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2020).^[55]
• "Dwelling Places: An Appreciation of John Burnside", special edition of Agenda magazine, Vol. 45, No 4/Vol. 46, No 1, Spring/Summer 2011^[56]

External links

• Profile at the British Council
• Profile at the Poetry Archive
• Profile on the Scottish Poetry Library website, with recordings of him reading his poems, and links to poem texts
• "Walk the tightrope" – a short essay in November 2011 issue of the New Humanist
• Archive of Article in the Spring 2007 issue of Tate etc. magazine
• John Burnside at The New Statesman
• Profile and article listing at The Guardian
• Scottish Arts Council September 2004 Poem of the Month : "homage to Kåre Kivijärvi"

Notes and References

1. News: Creamer . Ella . 9 November 2023 . John Burnside wins the 2023 David Cohen prize for amazing body of work . en-GB . The Guardian . 10 November 2023 . 0261-3077.
2. News: Living Nowhere by John Burnside . 27 June 2003 . The Independent. Andrew . Cowan . 2 June 2024 . 9 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231109222713/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/living-nowhere-by-john-burnside-110707.html. live.
3. Book: Ferguson, Ron . Helicopter Dreams – the quest for the Holy Grail . 2006 . Famedram . Ellon, UK . 0905489-86-1 . registration . 97–98.
4. News: Whitbread winners profiled . BBC News . 4 January 2001. 4 June 2024.
5. Web site: Staff Profile, University of St Andrews . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20161115051324/http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/english/people/academicstaff/burnside/ . 15 November 2016.
6. Web site: Judges > John Burnside . . thebookerprizes.com . 4 June 2024.
7. News: Waking Up In Toytown, By John Burnside . Fiona . Sampson . The Independent . 22 January 2010 . registration . 4 June 2024.
8. Web site: Poet portrait unveiled by National Galleries University of St Andrews news . 7 June 2024 . news.st-andrews.ac.uk.
9. News: Schottische Poesie und slowenische Prosa . . Germany . 15 November 2013 . 2 June 2024 . de.
10. Web site: Profile of John Burnside . Christchurch City Libraries . 2 June 2024 . 9 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231109222729/https://christchurchcitylibraries.com/Literature/People/B/BurnsideJohn/ . live.
11. News: Something Like Happy by John Burnside – review . Stuart . Kelly . The Guardian . 19 January 2013 . 3 June 2024.
12. Web site: Fellows > Burnside, John . September 2023 . . 4 June 2024.
13. Web site: The Royal Society of Edinburgh | 2016 Elected Fellows . 8 March 2016 . 8 October 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161008113046/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/1200_2016ElectedFellows.html . dead.
14. Web site: Journal > Spring . . 2 June 2024 . 22 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210522084502/https://alpinefellowship.com/journal-spring-2021 . live.
15. News: John Burnside, author of Black Cat Bone, dies aged 69 . Knight . Lucy . 31 May 2024 . . 31 May 2024 . 3 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240603011455/https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/may/31/john-burnside-author-of-black-cat-bone-dies-aged-69 . live.
16. Jonathan Cape . Jonathan Cape . JonathanCape . 1796558759084605544 . 31 May 2024 . We are devastated by the death of our beloved writer John Burnside, one of the most acclaimed of his generation. Hannah Westland, Publishing Director at Jonathan Cape, says: 'To read him was to feel a lighting up of the darkness.' . https://x.com/JonathanCape/status/1796558759084605544 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20240603011403/https://x.com/JonathanCape/status/1796558759084605544 . 3 June 2024 . 6 June 2024.
17. News: 'Vitality of language' earns Burnside prestigious prize . The Scotsman . 6 October 2011 . 4 June 2024.
18. Web site: Poet > John Burnside . . poetryarchive.org . 4 June 2024.
19. Web site: Gwendoline Riley wins the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize 2017 for fiction . 12 December 2018 . . 5 June 2024.
20. Web site: The Encore Award . 8 September 2023 . . 5 June 2024.
21. News: John Burnside – Interview . Rachel . Allen . . 16 August 2011 . 3 June 2024.
22. News: Gaelic science fiction novel wins literary prize . Brian . Ferguson . The Scotsman . 15 November 2013 . 4 June 2024.
23. News: Burnside, Thirlwell and Riley among Society of Authors winners . Guy . Dammann . The Guardian . 19 June 2008 . 4 June 2024.
24. Web site: Shortlist announced for PEN/Ackerley Prize 2011. English PEN. 12 July 2011. 25 July 2011. 8 August 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20110808072431/http://www.englishpen.org/news/_1697/. dead.
25. Web site: Belletristikpreis des ZEIT Verlages . de . https://web.archive.org/web/20190425165947/http://www.corine.de/chronik/detail.php?id=115&year=2011 . dead . 25 April 2019 . Corine Internationaler Buchpreis.
26. News: John Burnside wins Forward poetry prize . BBC News . 5 October 2011 . 3 June 2024.
27. News: Costa book awards 2011: the shortlists – in pictures . . 15 November 2011 . 5 June 2024.
28. News: Burnside, who has won the TS Eliot prize for 2011 for Black Cat Bone, talks to Claire Armitstead . The Guardian . 25 March 2012 . London . 16 January 2012 . 3 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240603011507/https://www.theguardian.com/books/audio/2012/jan/16/ts-eliot-prize-john-burnside-podcast . live.
29. Web site: John Burnside 2012 . Spycher Literaturpreis Leuk . spycher-literaturpreis.ch . 4 June 2024 . de.
30. News: «Coldhaven» von John Burnside . Katrin . Zipse . . 10 June 2018 . 5 June 2024 . de.
31. Web site: ARD-Hörspieldatenbank. hoerspiele.dra.de. 23 November 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211123094741/https://hoerspiele.dra.de/vollinfo.php?dukey=4924818&SID. live. de.
32. Radio awards for Prof John Burnside and Olly Emanuel . . 25 June 2018 . 5 June 2024.
33. News: Books of Revelation. Poetry pamphlets and this year's Michael Marks awards . Stephanie . Sy-Quia . . 9 December 2022 . 5 June 2024.
34. Web site: Poet > John Burnside > Selected Bibliography . . www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk . 5 June 2024.
35. Web site: Writers > John Burnside > Bibliography . . www.britishcouncil.org/ . 5 June 2024.
36. War against the Grown-Ups . John . Redmond . London Review of Books. 19 . 16 . 21 August 1997.
37. Web site: John Burnside, A Poet's Polemic . . 5 June 2024.
38. News: A space that nobody owns . Charles . Bainbridge . The Guardian . 28 April 2007 . 5 June 2024.
39. Heptonstall, Geoffrey . Jun–Jul 2014 . [<!--access-date=--> Independent metaphysics ]. . 132–136 .
40. News: Kellaway . Kate . 16 February 2014 . All One Breath by John Burnside – review . en-GB . The Observer . 12 November 2023 . 0029-7712 . 3 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240603011458/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/feb/16/all-one-breath-john-burnside-review . live .
41. Web site: 2 March 2014 . Book review: All One Breath by John Burnside . 12 November 2023 . The Independent . Sean . O'Brien . en . 12 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231112103301/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-review-all-one-breath-by-john-burnside-9163636.html . live .
42. Web site: John Burnside. Apostasie/Apostasy. Gedichte/Poems (dt./engl.) . Golden Luft . de . 5 June 2023.
43. News: Cottage of Horrors . James . Saynor . . 12 July 1998 . 5 June 2024.
44. Hell's Antechamber. Living Nowhere By John Burnside . . Francis . King . Francis King . 301 . July 2003 .
45. Urban Degeneration. Glister By John Burnside . . Amanda . Craig . Amanda Craig. 355 . June 2008 .
46. News: John Burnside: a life in writing . Sarah . Crown . The Guardian . 26 August 2011 . 4 June 2024.
47. Small-Town Scheherazade. Ashland & Vine By John Burnside . . Thomas . Marks . 450 . February 2017 .
48. News: Book Review: Meditations on a fragmentary Scottish utopia in John Burnside's Havergey . Nick . Major . . Scotland . 3 April 2017 . 5 June 2024.
49. Wallace Stevens: Poems Selected by John Burnside (review) . . Edward . Ragg . Edward Ragg . 35 . 2 . Fall 2011 . 284–287 . 10.1353/wsj.2011.0030.
50. News: I Put a Spell on You by John Burnside – review . Tessa . Hadley . Tessa Hadley . The Guardian . 2 May 2014 . 5 June 2024.
51. The Colossus of Big Sur. On Henry Miller: Or, How to Be an Anarchist By John Burnside . . Guy . Stevenson . 465 . June 2018 . 284–287 .
52. News: From confusion sprung . Marjorie . Perloff . Marjorie Perloff. . 14 February 2020 . 5 June 2024.
53. Web site: Aurochs and Auks by John Burnside . . 5 June 2024.
54. Web site: Film, Drama and Comedy . . www.a-l-kennedy.co.uk. 4 June 2024.
55. John Burnside. Ed. by Ben Davies . Forum for Modern Language Studies . Attila . Dósa . 58 . 1 . January 2022 . 128–129 . 10.1093/fmls/cqac011.
56. Spring–Summer 2011 . Dwelling Places: An Appreciation of John Burnside . . 45–46 . 4–1 . London . 5 June 2024.