26 February 2007

Award winning poet to host literary salon

Literary Salon: 4pm, Thursday 1st March. DCA, 152 Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DY.

Award winning poet, Douglas Dunn will present his poetry and take questions at the latest literary salon to be held by the University of Dundee.

The event, which will last for two hours and takes place at the DCA, is free and open to everybody.

Kirsty Gunn, Chair of Creative Writing at the University of Dundee, will present the session.

She says, "The idea of the literary salon is to be fun and informal, to give everybody the chance to hear a truly great writer talk about his life, both in literature and in academia. We want people from all walks of life to come along and take part."

Douglas Dunn is Professor of English and Director of St Andrew's Scottish Studies Institute at St Andrew's University. He has served as a member of the Scottish Arts Council (1992-4) and holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Dundee (Law) and Hull (Literature). He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1981. He is a regular contributor of articles and reviews to newspapers and journals including the Glasgow Herald, the New Yorker and the Times Literary Supplement.

Dunn's first collection of poetry, Terry Street, was published by in 1969, and was awarded both a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and a Somerset Maugham Award. Love or Nothing (1974) was awarded a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize in 1976. His other poetry books include St. Kilda's Parliament (1981), winner of the Hawthornden Prize in 1981, and the acclaimed Elegies (1985), written after the death of his wife, winner of Whitbread Book of the Year. Secret Villages, a collection of short stories, was published in 1985. More recent publications include a collection of short stories, Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1995), and three poetry collections, The Donkey's Ears (2000), The Year's Afternoon (2000) and New Selected Poems 1964-2000 (2002).

In addition to his collections of poetry and short stories, Dunn has edited various anthologies and critical works. He has also written several television and radio plays, and has published a translation of Racine's Andromache (1990).

The Literary Salon will take place at the DCA, 152 Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DY. 4pm on Thursday March 1st
01382 909900
www.dca.org.uk

For media enquiries contact:

Anna Day
Press Office
University of Dundee
Nethergate Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: a.c.day@dundee.ac.uk