Data di nascita: 1966
Sesso: male
Nazionalità: Scotland
UK
Attività lavorative: poet
quiz writer
Breve biografia: Roddy Lumsden was born in St. Andrews, Scotland; he describes his upbringing as small-town and working-class. His earliest exposure to literature came from his mother and older brother, who would read aloud to him when he was a child. Later, when he attended school, his writing was influenced by the works of W.S. Graham, Philip Larkin, Thom Gunn, T.S. Eliot, and Sylvia Plath, and by song lyrics.

His work is marked by an attention to formal traditions and a voice both streetwise and regretful. Matthew Smith, reviewing Mischief Night: New and Selected Poems (2004), noted that “the ongoing affair between hedonism and mortality in Lumsden’s poetry is as much context as a subject for his work.” He also observed his “flair for formal roguery” and commented that “although the verse is hopping with linguistic antics, the foci of the language are music and rhetoric.”

Roddy Lumsden’s poetry collections include Yeah, Yeah, Yeah (1997) and Roddy Lumsden Is Dead (2003). He has received an Eric Gregory Award and was Writing Fellow for the City of Aberdeen. Lumsden has worked as a freelance writer, editor, teacher, and writer of puzzles and quizzes for newspapers. In 1999 he co-wrote The Message, a book on poetry and music. He also composed a poem, “Bloom,” on the set of “Flowers for Kate”—a photo shoot of the model

Utenti

Recensioni

The Best British Poetry 2011 (Anthologies) di Roddy Lumsden

This book is based on the The Best American Poetry series of anthologies founded in the late 1980’s, and has been compiled from various British sources. The selection was chosen from UK- based Poetry magazines, Literary journals and online publications issued between spring 2010 and spring 2011, by the Scottish poet Roddy Lumsden, who also wrote the introduction. His aim in compiling this collection was that the material gathered should represent the rich variety of current UK poetry, including lyric, formal and experimental writing, that it should also represent the diversity of the poetry scene from established poets such as Patrick McGuinness, George Szirtes and Nii Ayikwei Parkes through to a newcomer Emma Page who is represented by her first published poem. The poets included are either from the UK or are based here, there are poets originally from the US, Ghana, Ireland, South Africa, Iran, Hungary, Australia, Zambia & show the multiplicity of poetry whether mainstream or experimental within the United Kingdom.
**
Each poem within this stunning jewel of a book is accompanied by a note from the poet, giving a little detail of their lives and an explanation of why they wrote this particular poem, providing us, the reader, with added insight into the writing of each piece. This adds a wonderful dialogue to the collection wherein your own interpretation of a poem can be compared with the original writers ideas. In the introduction Roddy Lumsden states that “ the end result is, I hope, a snapshot of what is happening at present in non-book publication of poetry in the UK” and if this is the case it chimes with what another poet (Nuala Ní Chonchúir) recently said to me, that being “ poetry is in a healthy state in the sense that it is being written and published, and there are a lot of readings taking place. The small presses keep poetry alive”, to which we owe a hearty thanks.

Three Wishes

What is it then? A gold-yoked goose egg. A wild bean-stalk.
The flatness of adulation. Being always young. The King, the Castle.
Wheat stalks spindled to flash and twine.

Or a cozening, a camera snap that keeps you, fleece-wrapped and obdurate
as a retouched grave, a quiet pearl.

A thick sleep saved from thistling worry. A cleaned thick-brick, gated place --
chrome and cream: control.
Wired yammering to drown the sullen, rising sea.

Remember now, how the girl requested a tattooed point of light, a refined star--
woke to the blinding, ink-scrawled sail of space,
unbounded clusters, galaxies, cankering in her skin.
Kate Potts.

http://parrishlantern.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/best-british-poetry-2011.html… (altro)

Segnalato

parrishlantern | Jul 3, 2012 |

Vitamin Q: A Temple of Trivia Lists and Curious Words di Roddy Lumsden

BTRIPP's review of Roddy Lumsden's "Vitamin Q: A Temple of Trivia Lists and Curious Words" (620 words)

Segnalato

BTRIPP | 1 altra recensione | Sep 22, 2010 |

Vitamin Q : a temple of trivia lists and curious words di Roddy Lumsden

I bought this book because I tend to like worthless trivia and find random facts interesting. I was disappointed. There are some interesting lists at the beginning, and a couple at the end, but the majority of the book is just plain boring. So boring, in fact, it took me over a year to read it! I am not inspired to check out the website. If you are a pub quiz aficionado, this is the book for you. If you read trivia for interest, give this one a miss.

Segnalato

seldombites | 1 altra recensione | Sep 6, 2009 |

Vedi altre recensioni