Edinburgh International Book Fest 2011: 5 poetry picks

Featuring Michael Longley, Robin Robertson, Czeslaw Milosz, Wendy Cope and John Burnside

This article is from 2011.

Michael Longley

Michael Longley

One of the most decorated verse-conjurors at this year’s festival, the Belfast-born writer has the TS Eliot Poetry Prize, a Whitbread and the Hawthornden Prize under his belt as well as being the proud recipient of the 2001 Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry. Should you wish to do a bit of boning up before his appearance, among his celebrated collections are Fishing the Sky, The Ghost Orchid and The Weather in Japan.
18 Aug, 10.15am, £10 (£8).

Robin Robertson

The acclaimed editor of James Kelman, AL Kennedy and Irvine Welsh, RR is a feted poet in his own right. We described his last collection, The Wrecking Light as ‘compelling’, ‘startling’ and having ‘a strongly developed sense of the domestic’.
20 Aug, 10.15am, £10 (£8).

Czeslaw Milosz

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Poland’s legendary poet and in a trio of events, the likes of critic Michel Pawel Markowski, philosopher John Gray and the Scottish Poetry Library pay tribute to his genius and legacy.
18 Aug, noon, 3.30pm; 23 Aug, 1.30pm, £10 (£8).

Wendy Cope

The witty poet was in fine form with her most recent collection Family Values which mixes the gently serious with the mildly caustic featuring some light trumpeting of universal emotions.
22 Aug, 7pm, £10 (£8).

John Burnside

In 2006, the multi-disciplinary scribe gave us his Collected Poems, a beautiful set which showcased his gift as a chronicler of the natural, human and mystical worlds.
17 Aug, 10.15am, £10 (£8).