Stewart Conn

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	Photo: © Jemimah Kuhfeld

Biography

Stewart Conn was born in Glasgow and grew up in Ayrshire. After studying at the University of Glasgow, he joined BBC Scotland, eventually becoming Senior Radio Drama Producer, a position he held until 1992.

He has lived in Edinburgh since 1977, and from 2002-2005 was the first poet laureate of the capital, the Edinburgh Makar. His poetry has been widely anthologised and translated and he is the author of several collections of poetry including: An Ear to the Ground (1972), a Poetry Book Society Choice; In the Blood (1995); Stolen Light: Selected Poems (1999), shortlisted for the 2000 Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award; and Ghosts at Cockcrow (2005).

He is also a playwright, two of his best-known plays being The Burning (1973), first performed in 1971, and Herman (2008), first produced in 1981. Other plays include The King (1970); Thistlewood (1979); and Play Donkey (1980). Herman and Hugh Miller (2002) won Edinburgh Festival Fringe First Awards. His dramatisation of George Mackay Brown's Greenvoe (St. Magnus Festival, 1998) and 4 Folk Tales (performed by the LSO at St Luke's, Covent Garden in 2008), were set to music by Alasdair Nicolson.

He has edited or co-edited the anthologies Goldfish Suppers (2004), a selection of new poetry for children; The Hand that Sees (2005), commemorating 500 years of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh; and 100 Favourite Scottish Poems (2006).

Stewart Conn is a member of Scottish PEN, a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and Honorary President of Edinburgh's Shore Poets. In 2006 he was awarded the inaugural Institute of Contemporary Scotland's Iain Crichton Smith Award for services to literature.

His latest poetry collection is The Breakfast Room (2010).

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Genres (in alphabetical order)

Drama, Poetry

Bibliography

The Chinese Tower   M Macdonald, 1967

Thunder in the Air   Akros Publications, 1967

Stoats in the Sunlight   Hutchinson, 1968

Playbill Two   (contributor: 'Fancy Seeing You, Then'))   Hutchinson, 1969

New English Dramatists 14   (contributor: 'The King')   Penguin, 1970

Corgi Modern Poets in Focus: 3   (contributor)   Corgi, 1971

An Ear to the Ground   Hutchinson, 1972

The Burning   Calder & Boyars, 1973

New Poems 1973-1974   (editor)   Hutchinson, 1974

The Aquarium   (contents: 'The Aquarium'; 'The Man in the Green Muffler'; 'I Didn't Always Live Here')   John Calder, 1976

Under the Ice   Hutchinson, 1978

Thistlewood   Woodhouse Books, 1979

A Decade's Drama; 6 Scottish plays   (contributor: 'Play Donkey')   Woodhouse Books, 1980

In the Kibble Palace   Bloodaxe, 1987

The Luncheon of the Boating Party   Bloodaxe, 1992

At the Aviary   Snailpress (South Africa), 1995

In The Blood   Bloodaxe, 1995

The Ice Horses   (co-editor)   Scottish Cultural Press, 1996

Stolen Light: Selected Poems   Bloodaxe, 1999

Distances: a personal evocation of people and places   Scottish Cultural Press, 2001

Hugh Miller (1802-1856)   Diehard at the Callander Press, 2002

Goldfish Suppers   (co-editor)   City of Edinburgh Council, 2004

Ghosts at Cockcrow   Bloodaxe, 2005

The Hand that Sees   (editor)   Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh/Scottish Poetry Library, 2005

100 Favourite Scottish Poems   (editor)   Luath Press, 2006

Play Donkey   Fairplay Press, 2007

The Loving-Cup   Mariscat Press, 2007

Herman   Fairplay Press, 2008

The Breakfast Room   Bloodaxe, 2010

Read about books by Stewart Conn at encompassculture.com - the British Council's book database and global online book club

Buy books by Stewart Conn at Amazon.co.uk

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Prizes and awards

1963   Eric Gregory Award

1968   Scottish Arts Council Poetry Award   Stoats in the Sunlight

1979   Scottish Arts Council Book Award   Under the Ice

1982   Scottish Radio Industries Club Best Play Award   Herman

1992   Scottish Arts Council Book Award   The Luncheon of the Boating Party

1996   Society of Authors Travel Award

2000   Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award   (shortlist)   Stolen Light

2006   Institute of Contemporary Scotland Iain Crichton Smith Award

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Further reading on this site

Authors added Summer 2008
New authors on the Contemporary Writers website Summer 2008: Teresa Breslin Stewart Conn Joe Dunthorne Patrick Gale Alan Gibbons Tanika Gupta Judith Kazantzis Jamaica Kincaid Joan Lingard Aoife Mannix David... more...   (31/10/2008)

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Contact information

Publisher (General enquiries) Bloodaxe Books Ltd Highgreen Tarset Northumberland  NE48 1RP England Tel: +44 (0)1434 240500 Fax: +44 (0)1434 240505 E-mail: publicity@bloodaxebooks.com http://www.bloodaxebooks.com

Agent The Agency (London) Ltd 24 Pottery Lane Holland Park London  W11 4LZ England Tel: +44 (0)20 7727 1346 Fax: +44 (0)20 7727 9037 E-mail: info@theagency.co.uk http://www.theagency.co.uk

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