Poetry
Reviews
Transparencies is a strong collection showing a highly skilled poet on top of her craft, using language and imagery in a sensitive but candid way, and speaking with a very individual voice
Brian McCabe
Meg Bateman's embrace of Gaelic has awakened her poetry to a noble passionate candour rare in today's over-ironical English
Les Murray
The end result of this beautifully constructed and paced collection is a universal evocation of commonalities fused by human consideration ... The title Transparencies hints at ephemeral moments caught. The poet suggests she aspires to a "palimpsest" of emotions recalled and now renewed upon the page. She succeeds
The Herald
About the Book
Meg Bateman vividly evokes the landscape of Scotland, particularly the brooding presences of the Scottish islands and Sutherland, and touches on personal love and loss in this intimate and celebratory collection.
The Author
Meg Bateman
Meg Bateman was born in Edinburgh in 1959. She lectures at Sabhal Mor Ostaig in Skye, part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, where she teaches literature and philosophy through the medium of Gaelic. She learned Gaelic in South Uist and the University of Aberdeen where she taught for many years. Her poetry is included in numerous anthologies such as the ‘Penguin Book of Scottish Verse’ and the ‘Penguin Book of Poetry from Britain and Ireland since 1945’. She has translated and co-edited anthologies of Gaelic medieval, 17th century and religious verse. Her two collections, ‘Aotromachd / Lightness’ and ‘Soirbheas / Fair Wind’, both published by Polygon, were shortlisted for the Scottish Book of the Year award in 1997 and 2007.Related
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Paperback | Pub: 21 Sep 2011£9.99
During her career Liz Lochhead has been described variously as a poet, feminist playwright, translator and broadcaster but has said that ‘when somebody asks me what I do I usually say writer. The most precious thing to me is to be a poet. If I...
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Paperback | Pub: 09 Nov 2009£25.00By the time of his death in January 1996, Norman MacCaig was known widely as the grand old man of Scottish poetry, honoured by an OBE and the Queen’s Medal for Poetry. This book is the third edition of “MacCaig’s Collected...
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Paperback | Pub: 27 Jun 2019£8.99George’s memory is inseparable from Orkney, where he was born the youngest child of a poor family and which he rarely left. His mother was a beautiful woman who spoke only Gaelic and his father was a wit, mimic and singer, who also doubled as...
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Hardback | Pub: 31 Aug 2004£9.99*Suitable for reading aloud – a lot of similar anthologies have weddings as their subject but don’t offer really public poems *Chosen by the Scottish Poetry Library’s Assistant Librarian, who has been answering the constant stream...
