Online guide to Scottish Poets

Claire Askewb.1986

Claire Askew is a poet and writer living in Edinburgh; her first collection, This changes things, was published by Bloodaxe in 2016.

Janette Ayachib.1982

Janette Ayachi is a Scottish-Algerian poet living in Edinburgh.

William Edmondstoune Aytoun1813 - 1865

Called 'the first modern professor of English literature', Aytoun was an ardent collector of ballads, and a poet who wrote in the historical ballad style.

Dorothy Baird

Dorothy Baird is a poet and community creative writing tutor.

James Ballantine1808 - 1877

James Ballantine was a stained-glass artist, commissioned to execute the windows in the House of Lords, and a popular local poet.

Iain Bamforthb.1959

Iain Bamforth’s international career in medicine has been paralleled by his wide-ranging investigations of the world in prose and poetry.

John Barbour

A fourteenth century churchman and writer, Barbour is best known for his epic poem ‘The Brus’.

John Bate

John Bate was a poet and librarian, a conscientious objector during the Second World War, and a committed Christian.

Meg Batemanb.1959

Meg Bateman has been bringing new qualities to Gaelic poetry since her first publications in the 1990s.

Pam Beasant

Pam Beasant was born in Glasgow, educated at Oxford University, and moved to Orkney in 1986. She lives in Stromness,  where she was appointed the first George Mackay Brown Writing Fellow in 2007. An editor and writer in several...

David Betteridgeb.1941

Now retired, David Betteridge has taught in a variety of educational establishments, and worked as a teacher-trainer; he is a published poet and has compiled an anthology of political poetry and prose.