Alan Norman Bold (1943–1998) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, biographer, journalist and saxophonist. He was born in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. He edited

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid ( , ), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish ...

's ''Letters'' and wrote the influential biography ''MacDiarmid''. Bold had acquainted himself with MacDiarmid in 1963 while still an English Literature student at

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

. His debut work, ''Society Inebrious'', with a lengthy introduction by MacDiarmid, was published in 1965, during Bold's final university year. This early publication kick-started a prolific poetic career with Bold publishing another three books of verse before the end of the decade, including the ambitious book-length poem ''The State of the Nation''. He also edited ''The Penguin Book of Socialist Verse'' (1970) and published a 1973 biography of

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...

. Alan Bold married an art teacher, Alice. Their daughter Valentina is a

scholar like her father, who teaches at the

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

. A lifelong heavy drinker who dealt with the boozy life of the poet in such collections as ''A Pint of Bitter'', Bold died after a short illness in a hospital in

Kirkcaldy Kirkcaldy ( ; ; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, making it Fife's second-largest s ...

at the age of 54.

Publications

Poetry

* ''Penguin Modern Poets 15'', 1969. * ''Society Inebrious'', Mowat Hamilton, Edinburgh 1965 * ''The Voyage'', 1966 * ''To Find the New'', Chatto and Windus, London, 1967 * ''A Perpetual Motion Machine'', Chatto and Windus, London, 1969 * ''The State of the Nation'', Chatto and Windus, London, 1969 * ''A Pint of Bitter'', Chatto and Windus, 1971 * ''The Malfeasance'', Alan Bold 1974 * ''This Fine Day'', Borderline Press, 1979

Other

*''The Penguin Book of Socialist Verse'' Penguin, 1970 * ''Biography of

'', Pitkin Pictorials Ltd, 1973 * ''Letters of

'' (edited), 1983 * ''East is West'' a novel, Keith Murray Publishing, 1991 * ''Making Love: The Picador Book of Erotic Verse'', 1978 * ''The Bawdy Beautiful: The Sphere Book of Improper Verse'', Editor, 1979 * ''Mounts of Venus: The Picador Book of Erotic Prose'', 1980 * ''The Sensual Scot'', Paul Harris Publishing, Editor, 1982

Reviews

* Murray, Glen (1980), review of ''This Fine Day'', in ''

Cencrastus ''Cencrastus'' was a magazine devoted to Scottish and international literature, arts and affairs, founded after the Referendum of 1979 by students, mainly of Scottish literature, at Edinburgh University, and with support from Cairns Craig, then a ...

'' No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 43 – 45, * Czerkawska, Catherine Lucy (1980), review of ''The Bawdy Beautiful: The Sphere Book of Improper Verse'', ''

'' No. 2, Spring 1980, p. 45 * Anderson, Carol (1983), ''The Bold Type'', review of ''The Sensual Scot'', in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), ''

'' No. 13, Summer 1983, p. 56

External links

Alan Bold at The Scottish Poetry Library
biography and appreciation by Richie McCaffery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bold, Alan 1943 births 1998 deaths Scottish Renaissance 20th-century Scottish poets Scottish male poets Alumni of the University of Edinburgh 20th-century British male writers 20th-century Scottish writers