The Saltire Society is delighted to be sponsoring this event at Wigtown Book Festival on Sunday 27 September 6pm in Wigtown County Buildings. His friends Marc Lambert, Lucia Graves, and Allan Little join together to celebrate Reid in his centenary, sharing memories and reflections on his life and work.
Alistair Reid had strong links with Wigtown, having been born in 1926 and spent his early years at the manse in Whithorn. He retained a deep affection for the Machars as this area is known. He had a sense of the possibilities of other lives and travel from early on. A poet, essayist, teacher and voyager, he lived on a houseboat on the Thames, in Antioch Ohio, in the Dominican Republic, in Spain, and, for decades, in New York City, with his partner Leslie Clark. He was on the staff of The New Yorker for 40 years, translated the work of numerous Spanish poets into English, published collections of his own poetry, and wrote books for children — in all, more than 40 books including essays, poetry, children’s books and translations of many distinguished poets.
For further information and to book tickets visit the Wigtown Book Festival. LINK There are a limited number of tickets available for members – details are included in Members’ newsletters.
In the afternoon of 27th September at 3.30pm the Saltire Society is hosting a reception at 3.30pm in Wigtown County Buildings to launch the second pamphlet in the new Saltire Series The Ginger Farmer by Tom Pow, a warm personal memoir of Alistair Reid, at a particular time and location in his life. Again, details for members are in the newsletters.
