# Ron Butlin

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ron_Butlin
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Ron_Butlin.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Butlin
> Source revision: 1353340417
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/novels), collections of [short stories](/source/short_stories), [poems](/source/poems) and [play](/source/play_(theatre))s. His work has been widely anthologised in Britain and abroad, and translated into over a dozen languages. His [debut novel](/source/debut_novel), ''The Sound of My Voice'', was republished in 2002 with an introduction by [Irvine Welsh](/source/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](/source/Libretto) for opera, mostly for [Scottish Opera](/source/Scottish_Opera), and frequently in collaboration with composer [Lyell Cresswell](/source/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](/source/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](/source/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](/source/Cencrastus)'' No. 2, Spring 1980, pp.&nbsp;43 – 45
* [Holton, Brian](/source/Brian_Holton_(translator)) (1983), review of ''The Exquisite Instrument'', in Hearn, Sheila G. (ed.), ''[Cencrastus](/source/Cencrastus)'' No. 11, New Year 1983, p. 43, {{issn|0264-0856}}

{{Authority control}}

{{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

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ron Butlin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Butlin) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Butlin?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.