Sunday, September 21, 2008

Duncan Glen 1933-2008

Colin Will has posted a short tribute to Scottish poet, publisher and activist, Duncan Glen, who died yesterday. Unlike Colin, I didn’t know Duncan well. I met him only on a few occasions, but he was a really nice guy, very encouraging to me, and had a great sense of humour. On two occasions he gave me a copy of his magazine Zed2o and refused my attempts to pay for them. Recently I read his editorial in the Spring 2008 edition of Zed2o, which reflected both his deep passion for poetry in Scotland and fearlessness in speaking his mind.

In my report on the By Leaves We Live 2006 event at the Scottish Poetry Library, when Duncan teamed up with Gerry Cambridge to talk about their respective publishing activities over some 40+ years (Duncan published poetry, criticism and history with his Akros Press since 1965), I wrote that they both exhibited “an emphasis on quality, a passion for making good poetry available, and a drive to surprise their readers and – no doubt – themselves.”

He’ll be greatly missed by many people.

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