What the Sea Gives

Publishing September 2026

About the Book: 

Fake news rules the airwaves, AI fills the skies, where’s the information you can trust?
Alan Riach’s new collection of poems provides two answers: only in the work of art, whether poem, painting, musical composition, or else in the object of your closest attention, a lover, close family, friends. These gifts you find or dive for, sometimes simply walking on the beach, sometimes swimming deep, into the abyss. There are new discoveries, particular points that make co-ordination possible, and even, maybe, progress. But each of these moments of focus are on the edge, a coastline between land and sea, vulnerable and open to tide or storm, landslide or hurricane, the rising swamp of apathy, the tornado of mob populism. Art can be hijacked. Friends can be seduced.
What the Sea Gives is perfect for not only lovers of poetry but any readers who value the importance of art and the connection it provides us.

Reviews for Alan's Previous Work:

Magisterial. THE TIMES on Scottish Literature: An Introduction

Obviously indispensable; I am learning new facts and possibilities on every page. NEAL ASCHERSON on Scottish Literature: An Introduction

A major Scottish poet... DOUGLAS GIFFORD on Homecoming

I love the order and shape of the manuscript, the air and breath in it. The Scottish landscapes that close the book are the root and Right True End of the collection: 'Bus Stop, Alloway' and 'Lanarkshire, January', the February flightpaths and unexpected bursts of hail - all these poems are sharp, soar, and help you to really see - and maybe my favourite is 'Drumelzier': not a poem about an eldritch experience but one that is an eldritch experience. It's an extraordinarily rich and varied collection. LIZ LOCHHEAD on Homecoming

...lively and intelligent... wide-ranging, adventurous, often witty... EDWIN MORGAN on Homecoming

...full of passion and intelligence... Scotland is his agenda... ANDREW MCNEILLIE, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT on Homecoming

The Winter Book is a vision of our times. It’s full of big poems which encompass a range of experiences, engaging with ideas, situations, places, and the why of it. Political anger is poured into strong, argumentative, emotionally engaging poems: no easy task. GERRIE FELLOWS on The Winter Book

About the Author:

Alan Riach was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, in 1957. He studied at Cambridge and Glasgow and worked in New Zealand at the University of Waikato from 1986-2000. He is the author of Hugh MacDiarmid's Epic Poetry and Representing Scotland in Literature, Popular Culture and Iconography. He is currently the Professor of Scottish Literature, University of Glasgow, and President of the Association for Scottish Literary Studies.