John Burnside
John Burnside
John Burnsideis a Scottish writer, born in Dunfermline. He is one of only two poetsto have won both the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Forward Poetry Prize for the same book...
NationalityScottish
ProfessionWriter
Date of Birth19 March 1955
consist fiction henry heroes james life love people proust rather recognise
I love long sentences. My big heroes of fiction writing are Henry James and Proust - people who recognise that life doesn't consist of declarative statements, but rather modifications, qualifications and feelings.
likely marriages matrimony occasion offer quite seemed somewhat suggest
I don't want to suggest that matrimony was necessarily a tragic affair - some of our neighbours' marriages seemed quite functional, if somewhat routine; nevertheless, in the workaday world, it is wedlock that is most likely to offer the occasion for life-threatening disappointment.
australian berlin careful collection devoted finer leading order tropical
The Botanischer Garten in Berlin has one of Europe's finer winter trails, leading in careful order from glasshouses devoted to African-American and Australian desert species, through a fine collection of tropical plants, and on to the orchid house.
beautiful cliche fear great joseph life matter paintings wolf works
It may be a cliche, but cliche or not, I fear the day when the only marsh harriers or peregrines I can look at are in paintings by Joseph Wolf or Bruno Liljefors - and no matter how beautiful those works may be, life is the great thing: life, life, life.
answer asked cathedral catholic confident devout intrigued raised
As a child, I was always intrigued by the question: what is it that distinguishes a city from a town? Is it size? Population? Location? When I asked grown-ups, the confident answer was that a city has to have a cathedral - which, to a child raised in a devout Catholic setting, made sense.
encounter passed realise takes
It takes a true encounter to realise that real animals, wild animals, have all but passed from our lives.
You can't sit down and decide what you want to write about.
dwelling humans plants
I think humans have to learn a new way of dwelling on this earth. A way of living with their companions: animals, plants and fish.
mad playing school
I remember playing the Mad Hatter in a school play and feeling very comfortable in the character.
cannot poetry realised spent talking time trying
I realised I'd spent a lot of time in my poetry trying to find a way of talking about that whereof we cannot speak.
moved parts south
I moved south when I was 11 years old, moved to England. I've lived in all kinds of places, all parts of England.
rather term
I don't like the term 'mental illness.' I'd rather just say 'mad.' Just like I always say 'loony bin,' not 'mental hospital.'
art courses loved three
I always wanted to be a painter. I loved painting. I went on three different art courses but had no talent whatsoever.
art bedroom house lived picture posters visits
Growing up, I lived in a house without art: no picture books on the shelves, no visits to museums, no posters on the bedroom wall.