The Winter Book

About the Book: 

The Winter Book begins on the ice and ends at the well at the world’s end.

Dark castles of bad management and wasted resources are opposed by the forces of art, the virtues of openness, a gathering sense that borders are sometimes precious things that need to be protected, and that travelling across and beyond them is equally vital.

This collection of Alan Riach’s poetry is highly relevant to these politically charged times, covering themes of hope and grief and exploring borders both personal and physical.

In the Highlands of Scotland I love,
Storm clouds curve down on the dark fields and strands,
With icy grey mist closing in from above –
Here Ossian’s grave still stands.
In dreams my heart races to be there,
To deeply breathe in its native air –
And from this long-forgotten shrine
Take its second life as mine.

Reviews: 

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

The poems in The Winter Book connect people, places and culture across geographies, nationally in Scotland and internationally in global, political contexts of loss and affirmation, sorrow and anger, personal and public worlds, as memories flow into history. DOUGLAS GIFFORD

About the Author:

ALAN RIACH was born in Airdrie in 1957. He studied English literature at Cambridge University from 1976-79. He completed his PhD in the Department of Scottish Literature at Glasgow University in 1986. His academic career has included positions as a post-doctoral research fellow, senior lecturer, Associate Professor and Pro-Dean in the Faculty of Arts, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand 1986-2000. He returned to Scotland in January 2001 and is currently the Professor of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow.