{{Short description|Scottish poet and novelist (born 1949)}} {{for|the Canadian ice hockey executive|Ron Butlin (ice hockey)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}} {{Use British English|date=December 2015}} thumb|right|'''Ron Butlin''' '''Ron Butlin''' (born 1949 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish poet and novelist who was Edinburgh Makar (Poet Laureate) from 2008 to 2014.<ref>{{cite book |author=Richard Baines |title=The New Paper Families: An Anthology of Short Short Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18shnUI7n8MC&pg=PA190 |accessdate=27 July 2020 |date=14 September 2010 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-15728-5 |page=190}}</ref>
==Education== Butlin was educated at the University of Edinburgh.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ron Butlin |url=https://literature.britishcouncil.org/writer/ron-butlin |website=British Council |accessdate=27 July 2020 |location=Literature}}</ref> He later became writer in residence in 1982 and 1984 at the university.
==Career== Butlin has written several novels, collections of short stories, poems and plays. His work has been widely anthologised in Britain and abroad, and translated into over a dozen languages. His debut novel, ''The Sound of My Voice'', was republished in 2002 with an introduction by Irvine Welsh who called it "one of the greatest pieces of fiction to come out of Britain in the Eighties".
He has written seven libretti for opera, mostly for Scottish Opera, and frequently in collaboration with composer Lyell Cresswell.<ref>{{cite news |last=Smith |first=Rowena |title=Five:15 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/may/16/five-15-opera-review |accessdate=25 June 2010 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=16 May 2010}}</ref>
Ron Butlin's literary archive is held at the National Library of Scotland.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://manuscripts.nls.uk/repositories/2/classifications/669 |title=Ron Butlin papers |date=30 January 2026}}</ref>
==Private life== Butlin is married to the Scottish-Swiss novelist and short story writer Regi Claire.
==Bibliography== '''Novels''' * ''The Sound of My Voice'' (1987) * ''Night Visits'' (1997) * ''Belonging'' (2006) * ''Ghost Moon'' (2014)
'''Short story collections''' * ''The Tilting Room'' (1983)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wallace |first1=Gavin |title=Ron Butlin |url=https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poet/ron-butlin/ |website=Scottish Poetry Library |publisher=Scottish Arts Council |accessdate=27 July 2020 |location=Poets |date=2012}}</ref> * ''Vivaldi and the Number 3 and Other Impossible Stories'' (2004) * ''No More Angels'' (2007)
'''Poetry''' * ''The Wonnerfuu Warld o John Milton (1974)'' * ''Stretto'' (1976) * ''Creatures Tamed by Cruelty'' (1979) * ''The Exquisite Instrument: Imitations from the Chinese (1982)'' * ''Ragtime in Unforgettable Bars'' (1985) * ''Histories of Desire'' (1995) * ''Without a Backward Glance'' (2005) * ''The Magicians of Edinburgh'' (2012) * ''The Magicians of Scotland'' (2015) * ''Here Come the Trolls!'' (verse for children, 2015) * ''The Offering'' (2017)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.projectsoothe.com/poem/4594026439 |title=Poem – Soothe}}</ref>
'''Opera''' * ''Markheim'' * ''Dark Kingdom'' * ''Faraway Pictures'' * ''Good Angel, Bad Angel'' * ''The Perfect Woman'' * ''The Money Man'' * ''Wedlock''
==References== {{Reflist}}
'''Reviews''' * Murray, Glen (1980), review of ''Creatures Claimed by Cruelty'', in ''Cencrastus'' No. 2, Spring 1980, pp. 43 – 45 * Holton, Brian (1983), review of ''The Exquisite Instrument'', in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), ''Cencrastus'' No. 11, New Year 1983, p. 43, {{issn|0264-0856}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Butlin, Ron}} Category:1949 births Category:Living people Category:Scottish dramatists and playwrights Category:Scottish novelists Category:Scottish opera librettists Category:Scottish poets Category:Scottish science fiction writers Category:Scottish short story writers