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Memo for Spring

Memo for Spring

50th Anniversary Edition

by Liz Lochhead

Introduction by Ali Smith

Imprint: Polygon

Digital download
9781788853484
May 2022

$13.95

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Description
Authors
Praise

This is an exclusive limited edition with a preface by Liz Lochhead and a new introduction by Ali Smith.

Liz Lochhead is one of the leading poets writing in Britain today. This, her debut collection, published in 1972, was a landmark publication. Writing at a time when the landscape of Scottish poetry was male dominated, hers was a new voice, tackling subjects that resonated with readers – as it still does. Her poetry paved the way, and inspired, countless new voices including Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie, Jackie Kay and Carol Ann Duffy. Still writing and performing today, fifty years on from her first book of poetry, Liz Lochhead has been awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and was Scotland’s second modern Makar, succeeding Edwin Morgan.

Memo for Spring is accessible, vital and always as honest as it is hopeful. Driving through this collection are themes of pain, acceptance, loss and triumph.

Liz Lochhead is the Scottish Makar (Poet Laureate) and is regarded as one of Scotland's best andmost popular poets and dramatists. Her poetry is characterised by a self-conscious effort to mimic the idioms of speech, adopting a range of spoken styles that include the lyrical use of cliche, rap, colloquialism and even advertising language in an effort to raise the profile of the marginalised voices of both Scots and women. Her most famous poetry collections include "Dreaming Frankenstein and Collected Poems" (1984), "True Confessions and New Cliches" (1985) and"Bagpipe Muzak" (1991). She became Makar in 2011 after the death of Edwin Morgan."

A voice so fresh and relevant that it broke new ground, paving the way for the likes of Ali Smith, Jackie Kay, Kathleen Jamie and Carol Ann Duffy' ~The Sunday Post

An inspirational presence in British poetry – funny, feisty, female and full of feeling' ~Carol Ann Duffy

This is the work of a highly intelligent, sensitive, perceptive, and humorous young woman' ~George Mackay Brown

Liz Lochead made it possible to imagine being a poet' ~Kathleen Jamie

In Scotland’s literary world Lochhead was a pioneer, imprinting the female experiences of love and loss' ~Steven McGinty, The Sunday Times

This new 50th anniversary edition celebrates Liz Lochhead’s seminal poetry collection' ~Scots Magazine

A book full of youthful hope and heartbreak' ~The Herald

Lochhead was a fresh, young female voice in the masculine world of Scottish poetry and these early poems are just as exhilarating and entertaining a read today' ~Daily Mail