Booker winner's words on Burns

Published on Thursday 10 September 2009 21:07

DBC Pierre, the prize-winning Mexican author, is among the contributors to a new book celebrating the life of Robert Burns, published by Dundee University Press, marking the 250th anniversary of the birth of Scotland's national poet.

Pierre – born Peter Warren Finlay – who was awarded the Man Booker Prize for fiction in 2003 for his novel Vernon God Little, has contributed a satirical essay which explores "the suppression and undervaluation in Scotland of Robert Burns due to historical omission and manipulation".

Other contributors to the book, For A' That – A Celebration Of Burns, include the award-winning novelist Janice Galloway, Kirsty Gunn, Professor of Creative Writing at Dundee University, and the renowned New Zealand poet Bill Manhire.

The book also features original artwork by Brigid Collins, an artist and illustrator who lectures at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art.