About the Author

IAIN CRICHTON SMITH was born in 1928 on the island of Lewis. Educated at Aberdeen University, he became a teacher after national service. In 1977 he resigned to write full time. He received many awards, including the OBE in 1980. He died in 1998. Carcanet publish his Selected Poems (1985), Collected Poems (1992, paper-back 1996), Ends and Beginnings (1995), The Human Face (1997), The Leaf and the Marble (1998) and Selected Stories (1990).

Reviews

"It is very seldom that genius so wide and fervent in its sympathies and so lacking in egoism that it can be humorous without trying to be witty or clever." Sorley MacLean, author, "Hallaig""
"Over the years [his] poetry has increased in strangeness and beauty. He is a poet of his own discontents, but one who has submitted his unrest to the demands of imagination." "Times Literary Supplement""