Robertson Robin

Born in 1955 on the northeast coast of Scotland, Robin Robertson has spent much of his career in London, working in editorial roles for major publishing houses like Penguin Books, Secker and Warburg, and Jonathan Cape. His poetry has been featured in prominent literary journals such as the London Review of Books and The New York Review of Books, and included in numerous anthologies.

Robertson has also undertaken significant editorial work, including the collection "Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame" and translations of works by Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer and Euripides' "Medea." His own poetry collections, including "A Painted Field," "Slow Air," "Swithering," and "The Wrecking Light," have garnered considerable critical acclaim and numerous awards. He has been honored with the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Scottish First Book of the Year Award, and the Forward Prize for Best Collection, among others. His innovative narrative poem "The Long Take" received the Goldsmiths Prize for fiction and the Walter Scott Prize, and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

Beyond his own poetry, Robin Robertson has made significant contributions as an editor and translator. He held editorial positions at Penguin Books, Secker and Warburg, and later served as poetry and fiction editor at Jonathan Cape. Robertson also edited "Mortification: Writers' Stories of Their Public Shame" (2004), a compilation of commissioned pieces from international authors addressing public embarrassment. In 2006, he produced "The Deleted World," a new version of poems by the Swedish poet Tomas Tranströmer. He further engaged with classical literature by publishing a new translation of Euripides' "Medea" in 2008, a work that was subsequently adapted for stage and radio. He also translated Euripides' "Bacchae" in 2014.

Robertson's literary achievements have been widely recognized through numerous awards. His debut collection, "A Painted Field" (1997), earned him the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and the Scottish First Book of the Year Award. His third collection, "Swithering" (2006), won the Forward Prize for Best Collection. In 2004, he received the E. M. Forster Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and in 2009, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Completing a set of Forward Prizes, "At Roane Head" won the award for Best Single Poem in 2009. His narrative poem "The Long Take" (2018) was particularly lauded, winning the Goldsmiths Prize for innovative fiction and the 10th Walter Scott Prize in 2019, making him the first Scot and the first poet to receive the latter. "The Long Take" was also shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize.