John Burnside

John Burnside, born in Dunfermline, UK, worked as a factory worker, labourer, gardener and for ten years as a computer systems designer before becoming a full-time writer in 1995. Burnside is the author of more than a dozen books of poetry, including Black Cat Bone, which won both the Forward and T.S. Eliot Prizes in 2012, and the forthcoming Learning to Sleep, to be published by Jonathan Cape in August 2021. In addition to poetry, he also writes fiction, essays, and, over the past fifteen years, a series of memoirs, the most recent of which is I Put A Spell On You, which combines personal reminiscences with reflections on glamour, magic, and romantic love. He currently lives in Fife, Scotland, where he teaches at the University of St. Andrews.