NORMAN MacCAIG (1910–96) was born in Edinburgh. He lived there all his life, though lengthy annual visits to Assynt enriched his life and work. He attended the Royal High School, studied Classics at the University of Edinburgh and then trained as a teacher. Having spent years teaching in primary schools, he later taught Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh, before joining the English department at the University of Stirling as a Lecturer and then as a Reader in Poetry.
MacCaig’s reputation was recognised by the award of an OBE and the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and many other distinctions, but he is best remembered for his teaching, his public readings, his fruitful influence on younger writers and his continuing commitment to the lyric poem over a lifetime of creative work.
RODERICK WATSON is Emeritus Professor at the University of Stirling and was a friend and colleague of the poet during his Stirling years. He has published extensively on Hugh MacDiarmid, the literature of Scotland and many other Scottish writers, including an introduction to MacCaig, The Poetry of Norman MacCaig (1989) and a critical essay on his late work.