For Ron Butlin all histories are histories of desire. His poems are concerned with what lies just beyond our reach or else is hidden too deep within each of us to be expressed in any other way. These particular Histories of Desire emerge in often fanciful response to the demands of love, friendship, bereavement, travel, and always desire.
Ron Butlin is a romantic who seasons his fancies with wit and parody He has always been a convincing poet of human love, able to be true to direct experience while maintaining a fine lyricism in his language. Peter Porter
A strong and outward-looking poet, versatile and rich in invention.' Robert Garioch
Ron Butlin is one of Scotlands most versatile and original writers, a poet, playwright, novelist, short story writer and opera librettist whose books have been translated into many languages. Born in Edinburgh, he grew up in Dumfriesshire, and from his present Edinburgh home has roamed the world to give readings as far afield as North America, Eastern Europe, Russia, Nigeria, Mauritius and Australia. Histories of Desire is his first poetry collection since his award-winning Ragtime in Unfamiliar Bars (Secker, 1985).
