Robin Fulton is a Scottish poet and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, born on 6 May 1937 on the

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; ) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Counties of Scotland, Historically part of Buteshire, it is in the ...

. Since 2011 he has published under the name Robin Fulton Macpherson.

Biography

The son of a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

minister, Robin Fulton was born in Arran in 1937. After attending primary school in Arran and then Glasgow, he had his secondary schooling in

Golspie Golspie ( , ) is a village and parish in Sutherland, Scottish Highlands, Highland, Scotland, which lies on the North Sea coast in the shadow of Ben Bhraggie. It has a population of around 1,350. History The name derives from the Old Norse, ...

, Sutherland when his parents moved to the

Scottish Highlands The Highlands (; , ) is a historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Highlands and the Scottish Lowlands, Lowlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Scots language, Lowland Scots language replaced Scottish Gae ...

. After taking a degree in English Language and Literature 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 ...

, he went on to gain an MA in 1959 and a PhD with a thesis on “Social Criticism in Scottish Literature 1480-1560” in 1972. From 1969 to 1971 he also held the Writers' Fellowship at Edinburgh University. Formerly he had taught school but afterwards moved to what was then the District College of Stavanger in Norway, rising to senior lecturer before retiring in 2006. Fulton’s literary engagement with Scotland continued, however. Having edited

Lines Review ''Lines Review'' was a Scottish poetry journal founded by the publisher Callum Macdonald in 1952. Its original editorial board included the Scottish poets Sydney Goodsir Smith, Hugh MacDiarmid, Norman MacCaig, Sorley MacLean and Denis Peploe. La ...

and the associated press from 1967-1976, he was later responsible for editing the selected poems of

Iain Crichton Smith Iain Crichton Smith, (Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Iain Mac a' Ghobhainn''; 1 January 1928 – 15 October 1998) was a Scottish people, Scottish poet and novelist, who wrote in both English and Gaelic. He was born in Glasgow, but moved to the Isl ...

(1983) and was especially dedicated to editing and contextualising the work of

Robert Garioch Robert Garioch Sutherland (9 May 1909 – 26 April 1981) was a Scottish poet and translator. His poetry was written almost exclusively in the Scots language, he was a key member in the literary and language revival in the mid-20th century. ...

. Collections of his own poems began appearing in 1963, initially in Scotland, then from English and US presses. He has also translated many Scandinavian poets, which has gained him the Swedish Artur Lunkvist Award (1977), Swedish Academy Awards (1978, 1998) and the Bernard Shaw Translation Prize (2010).

Principal publications

Poetry

*''A Manner of Definition'' (G. Gordon, London 1963) *''Instances'' (Macdonald Publishers, Edinburgh 1967) *''Inventories'' (Caithness Books, Thurso 1969) *''The Spaces between the Stones'' (New Rivers Press, New York 1971) *''The Man with the Surbahar'' (Macdonald 1971) *''Tree Lines'' (New Rivers Press 1974) *''Between Flights'' (Interim Press, Egham 1976) *''Following a Mirror'' (Oasis Books, London 1979) *''Selected Poems 1963 – 1978'' (Macdonald Publishers 1980) *''Fields of Focus'' (Anvil Press, London 1982), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation *''Coming down to Earth and Spring Is Soon'' (Oasis Books, and Shearsman Books, Plymouth, 1990) *''From a High Window and other poems'' (Oasis Books, 2002) *''Homing: ten poems'' (Oasis Books 2003) *''A Northern Habitat: Collected Poems 1960-2010'', as Robin Fulton Macpherson (Marick Press, Michigan, 2013) *''Unseen Islands and other poems'', Marick Press 2019 *''Arrivals of Light'' (Shearsman Books 2020)

Poetry in translation

*''Sekunden överlever stenen'', translated into Swedish by

Johannes Edfelt Bo Johannes Edfelt (21 December 1904 – 27 August 1997) was a Swedish writer, poet, translator and literary critic. A native of Tibro, Edfelt was elected to be a member of the Swedish Academy in 1969, occupying seat No. 17. He succeeded Er ...

, Lasse Söderberg &

Tomas Tranströmer Tomas Gösta Tranströmer (; 15 April 1931 – 26 March 2015) was a Swedish poet, psychologist and translator. His poems captured the long winters in Sweden, the rhythm of the seasons and the palpable, atmospheric beauty of nature. Tranströmer' ...

(Ellerströms, Lund, 1996) *''Grenzflug'', translated into German by Margitt Lehbert (Edition Rugerup, Hörby, 2008)3 poems and their German translations
/ref> *''Poemas'', translated into Spanish by

Circe Maia Circe Maia, (born June 29, 1932, in Montevideo), is a Uruguayan poet, essayist, translator, and teacher. Biography Circe Maia was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1932. Her parents were María Magdalena Rodríguez and the notary Julio Maia, both ...

(Rebeca Line Editoras, Montevideo, 2013)

Criticism

*''Contemporary Scottish Poetry: Individuals and Contexts'' (Macdonald 1974) *''The Way the Words Are Taken: selected essays'' (Macdonald 1989)

Translated authors

* ''An Italian Quartet'': Versions after Saba, Ungaretti, Montale, Quasimodo (Alan Ross, London 1966) * ''Blok's "Twelve"'' (Akros, Preston, Lancashire 1968) *

Lars Gustafsson Lars Erik Einar Gustafsson (17 May 1936 – 3 April 2016) was a Swedish poet, novelist, and scholar. Among his awards were the in 2006, the Goethe Medal in 2009, the Thomas Mann Prize in 2015, and the Nonino#Winners, International Nonino Prize i ...

: ''Selected Poems'' (New Rivers Press, New York 1972) *

Gunnar Harding Karl Gunnar Harding (born 11 June 1940) is a Swedish poet, novelist, essayist and translator, considered 'one of Sweden's foremost poets'. Among his other poetry collections is ''Starnberger See'' from 1977. Among his novels is ''Luffaren Svarta ...

: ''They Killed Sitting Bull and other poems'' (London Magazine Editions, 1973); ''Starnberger See'' (Oasis Books, 1983) *

: ''Selected Poems'', (Penguin Books, 1976); ''Selected Poems'' (Ardis, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1980); ''How the Late Autumn Night Novel Begins'' (Sceptre Press, Knotting, Bedfordshire, 1980); ''Baltics'' (Oasis Books, 1980); ''The Truth Barrier'' (Oasis Books 1984); ''Collected Poems'' (Bloodaxe, Newcastle upon Tyne 1987); ''New Collected Poems'' (Bloodaxe and Dufour Editions, Chester Springs, Pennsylvania, 1997); ''The Great Enigma: New Collected Poems'' (New Directions, New York 2006); ''Memories Look At Me : A Memoir'', (New Directions 2011) *

Östen Sjöstrand Östen Sjöstrand (16 June 1925 in Gothenburg – 13 May 2006) was a Sweden, Swedish poet, writer and translator. He became a member of the Swedish Academy in 1975 and was a member of the Academy's Nobel Committee in Literature, Nobel committee b ...

: ''The Hidden Music and other poems'' (Oleander Press, Cambridge 1975) * Werner Aspenström: ''Selected Poems'' (Oasis Books 1976); ''The Blue Whale and other prose pieces'' (Oasis Books 1981) * Staffan Bergsten: ''Mary Poppins and Myth'' (Almqvist & Wiksell, Stockholm 1978) *

: ''Family Tree: Thirteen Prose Poems'' (Oasis Books 1981) *

Kjell Espmark Kjell Erik Espmark (19 February 1930 – 18 September 2022) was a Swedish writer, literary historian, member of the Swedish Academy, and Professor of the History of Literature at Stockholm University. He was elected to the Swedish Academy on 5 M ...

: ''Béla Bartók Against the Third Reich'' (Norstedts, Stockholm, and Oasis Books, 1985); ''Lend Me Your Voice'' (Marick Press, 2011); ''Outside the Calendar'' (Marick Press 2012); ''Inner Space'' (Marick Press 2014) * Olav Hauge: ''Don't Give Me the Whole Truth: Selected Poems'' (Anvil Press, London, 1985; White Pine Press, Buffalo, New York, 1990), with James Greene and Siv Hennum; ''Leaf Huts and Snow Houses'' (Anvil Press Poetry, 2003), Poetry Book Society recommendation *

Stig Dagerman Stig Halvard Dagerman (5 October 1923 – 4 November 1954) was a Swedish author and journalist prominent in the aftermath of World War II. Biography Stig Dagerman was born Stig Halvard Andersson in Älvkarleby, Uppsala County. He later took h ...

: ''German Autumn'' (Quartet Books, London 1988; University of Minnesota 2011) *

Pär Lagerkvist Pär Fabian Lagerkvist (23 May 1891 – 11 July 1974) was a Swedish author who received the 1951 Nobel Prize in Literature. Lagerkvist wrote poetry, plays, novels, short stories, and essays of considerable expressive power and influence from hi ...

: ''Guest of Reality and other stories'' (Quartet Encounters, 1989) * ''Preparations for flight and other Swedish stories'' (Forest Books, London 1990) * ''Four Swedish Poets'': Tranströmer, Eva Ström, Lennart Sjögren, Espmark (White Pine Press 1990) * ''Five Swedish Poets'': Espmark, Sjögren, Ström, Staffan Söderblom, Aspenström (Norvik Press, Norwich 1997) * Henrik Nordbrandt: ''My Life, My Dream'' (Dedalus Press, Dublin 2002) *

Harry Martinson Harry Martinson (6May 190411February 1978) was a Swedish writer, poet and former sailor. In 1949 he was elected into the Swedish Academy. He was awarded a joint 1974 Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Prize in Literature in 1974 together with fellow ...

: ''Chickweed Wintergreen'' (Bloodaxe 2010)

References

External links

* D. M. Black, "Robin Fulton Macpherson: a note on the Scottish contribution"
Poetry International

* Peter Macdonald's review of ''A Northern Habitat'' - featured i
''Rain Taxi''

10 poems at Poemhunter

14 poems at Poemist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fulton, Robin 1937 births Living people Scottish poets Scottish translators Alumni of the University of Edinburgh