’Alastair Reid is a word magician.’ – BILL BUFORD
Now 82 years old, Alastair Reid is one of Scotland’s foremost literary figures but his work is currently out of print in the UK (his most recent publication is Canongate’s Oases from 1997 but this represented only a fraction of his work). The bulk of his prose has long been unavailable, so this wide-ranging new collection of prose will present a fresh and comprehensive overview of his achievements, and will appeal to existing fans and new readers.
Admired worldwide as a supreme craftsman in poetry, prose and translation, Reid is a key figure in modern Scottish literature, a man who represents through his life and work the cosmopolitan internationalism Scotland aspires to. Friend and confidant of some of the giants of 20th-century literature, he has written definitive appreciations of Robert Graves, Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cabrera Infante and Mario Vargas Llosa, as well as proving to be one of the most acute and acerbic observers of modern Scotland and what it is to be Scottish. As Scotland finds and defines its place in the global scene, his work has never been more relevant.
Alastair Reid was born in Whithorn in 1926. After serving in the navy, he studied at St Andrews University and since then has lived in America, France, Spain, Switzerland, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. He contributed over 150 pieces to the New Yorker magazine in 1951 and joined its staff, eventually becoming South American Editor. He has published over 40 books in many languages, including essays, poetry, sports writing, children’s books and translations of some of the world’s most distinguished poets and literary figures.
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