Stewart Conn
(1936 – present) - Kilmarnock
Stewart Conn was born in Glasgow, but moved shortly afterwards to Kilmarnock, in 1942, where his father had taken up the ministry of St. Marnock's Church in the town. In 1948 Conn enrolled at Kilmarnock Academy secondary school. During his six years at the school he became active in the school magazine, Goldberry.
After school Conn took a degree at Glasgow University before doing his National Service in the RAF. He then became a producer with BBC Radio and in 1977, when he moved to Edinburgh, he became Senior Drama Producer for BBC Radio Scotland; a post he kept until 1992.
Conn is a prolific writer of poetry and a distinguished playwright. His first collection of poems, Thunder in the Air, was largely based on his Ayrshire upbringing and was published in 1967. His latest collection, Ghosts at Cockrow, being published in 2005. His first play, The Burning, was performed in 1971 and since then he has penned numerous others.
Conn is the Honorary President of the Shore Poets Society and was the inaugural winner of the Institute for Contemporary Scotland's Iain Crichton Smith Award for services to literature in 2006. In May of 2006 he gave a talk and reading of his work in Lithuania, in conjunction with the British Council.
From 2002 until 2005 Conn was the Poet Laureate for Edinburgh, the Edinburgh Makar. He is also Honorary President of the Shore Poets Society, who will be hosting a 70th Birthday Party in honour of him in November 2006.
- Distances: A Personal Evocation Of People And Places
Distances reflects Conn's wide interests and love for people, and is written in an unassuming, unpretentious and easily accessible style. - Ghosts At Cockrow
Stewart Conn is one of Scotland's leading poets. His 'Stolen Light' was widely praised for its evocations of the land, people and farms of his Ayrshire boyhood, and for his unnerving sense of the fragility of life. This work features many poems written during his three years as Edinburgh's first Poet Laureate. - Stolen Light: Selected Poems
One of Scotland's leading poets, widely celebrated for his evocations of the land, people and farms of his Ayrshire boyhood, and for his 'unnerving sense of the fragility of life' (Douglas Dunn).
Bibliography
- Thunder in the Air - 1967
- Stoats in the Sunlight - 1968
- Ear To The Ground - 1972
- Under The Ice - 1978
- In The Kibble Palace - 1987
- The Luncheon of the Boating Party - 1992
- In The Blood - 1995
- Stolen Light - 1999
- Distances - 2001
- Ghosts at Cockrow - 2005