Burns Singer was born in 1928 and brought up in Glasgow. He read English and Zoology there but abandonned his studies after his mother's suicide. After four years as a marine biologist, he became a freelance literary journalist in London. In 1957 he published his study of the British fishing industry, Living Silver, as well as a collection of poetry, Still and All. His Collected Poems, edited by James Keery, were published by Carcanet Press in 2001.