Ron Butlin was born in Edinburgh and grew up in Dumfriesshire. He is a poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer and opera librettist whose works have been translated into many languages.

His volumes of poetry include the award-winning Ragtime in Unfamiliar Bars (Secker & Warburg, 1985) and Histories of Desire (Bloodaxe, 1995). His New and Selected Poems was published by Barzan in 2005.

Ron Butlin was appointed Edinburgh Makar in May 2008.

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Related links

› SPL Education interviews Ron Butlin
› Ron Butlin in Home & Away
› Ron Butlin at Contemporary Writers
› Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Makars Page

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Old favourites

'The poems in Sangschaw and Penny Wheep were a total revelation to me when I first read them over thirty years ago – and they still are. The earth moved then... and still does! 'Synthetic Scots is an artificial language', whine some academic deadbeats. Who cares! Hugh MacDiarmid's early lyrics surely contain poetry as great as has ever been written. The complete integration of sound, form, image, language and meaning – utterly perfect.'

Current favourites

'Many of James Lee Burke's crime thrillers are set in or around New Orleans, and are on a par with the best fiction of any kind. His novels are page-turners – they really grip! Burke is not only a natural story-teller, but a truly compassionate and insightful commentator on contemporary society. One of the most recent in his ‘Robicheaux' series, The Tin Roof Blowdown, is set in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina – and, once again, his prose is powerful, vivid and charged with genuine feeling. I am enjoying this book immensely.'

Ron Butlin, July 2008

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A Recipe for Whisky

Wring the Scottish rain clouds dry;
Take sleet, the driving snow, the hail;
Winter twilight; the summer's sun slowed down
to pearl-sheen dusk on hillsides, city-roofs,
on lochs at midnight.
And, most of all, take the years that have already run
to dust, the dust we spill behind us…

All this, distill. And cask. And wait.
The senselessness of human things resolves
to who we are – our present fate.
Let's taste, let's savour and enjoy.
Let's share once more.
Another glass for absent friends. Pour
until the bottle's done.

Here's life! Here's courage to go on!

Ron Butlin © 2005
in Without a Backward Glance: New and Selected Poems (Barzan, 2005)