Tessa Ransford – författare

In 2002, poet Tessa Ransford and artist Joyce Gunn-Cairns set off from Edinburgh, with the aid of a travel grant from the Scottish Arts Council, to visit Leipzig. Tessa investigated the poetry scene, and translated five of the poets whose work she admired, while Joyce drew portraits of them and took photographs. The poets featured here are Wulf Kirsten, Thomas Rosenlocher, Elmar Schenkel, Andreas Reimann, Uta Mauersberger, and Tessa herself. An anthology with a difference.

Inspired by the rediscovery of an Urdu phrasebook, Ransford takes the reader on a journey to explore the differences between ‘then’ and ‘now’, linking the reader to a world now lost to most. These poems question what it is to be both British and Indian, drawing on the author’s memories and experiences to celebrate and uncover an ‘Indian’ self. This collection of poems reveals the influences that have been formative over four decades of Tessa Ransford’s writings.

A Rug of a Thousand Colours is an exploratory project between a Palestinian poet who is now a resident in Scotland and an established Scottish poet. The poems explore Tessa and Iyad’s personal responses to the Five Pillars of Islam. Although from different backgrounds the two poets form a dialogue which is interwoven throughout the poems and creates a vivid tapestry of ideas surrounding the Five Pillars of Islam. Each poet translates the other’s work so that each poem is presented in English and in Arabic.

there’ll be nae cries omiseryjist the creakin souno openin doorsRead these poems and be inspired.In the wake of the 1979 Devolution Referendum, followed by the impact of Thatcherite policies on Scottish society, many Scottish writers and intellectuals began articulating the distinctiveness of Scottish literary, cultural, social and political traditions and outlooks. Some joined popular political campaigns, from opposing the Poll-Tax and Trident to the Campaign for a Scottish Assembly, which led to a Scottish Parliament. Many now look forward to new possibilities for the future with more confidence in the value and importance of our country’s culture and politics, as these poems reveal.Whatever the outcome of Scotland’s Independence Referendum on 18 September 2014, a better Scotland is possible. Across every aspect of life in Scotland – housing, inequality, life expectancy, health, education, crime, sectarianism, localism and more – we all know that a better Scotland is possible. And then there’s Trident. And the Bedroom Tax. And the Democratic Deficit. And on it goes.

This new collection of work fromTessa Ransford is marked out by an authentic and unique voice, honedthrough a lifetime of dedication to her art. The cover photograph shows the author in 1981 when she founded the School of Poets in Edinburgh.