Hardcover
John Burnside’s captivating poems: nature, myth, and magic’s transformation.
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Driftwork

Selected Poems

RRP$39.98

$34.83

  • Hardcover

    240 pages

  • Release Date

    24 November 2026

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Summary

The definitive selection of John Burnside’s extraordinary and vibrant poems, from one of our greatest contemporary writers.

This selection spans decades of Burnside’s work, offering poems that are always stirring, curious, and alert to the natural world and the people in it.

“It’s impossible not to love the world more when reading Burnside.” - GUARDIAN

Over thirty-five years and seventeen collections, John Burnside built a body of poetry that was consistently luminous,…

Book Details

ISBN-13:9781787336667
ISBN-10:1787336662
Author:John Burnside
Publisher:Vintage Publishing
Imprint:Jonathan Cape
Format:Hardcover
Number of Pages:240
Release Date:24 November 2026
Weight:304g
Dimensions:23mm x 139mm x 206mm
A-Format
B-Format
Driftwork by John Burnside - ISBN: 9781787336667
139 × 206 mm
C-Format
A4
mm / in
What They're Saying

Critics Review

It’s clear from the start that he [Burnside] was attuned to some ungraspable essence shimmering beyond the fields, kitchens and suburban streets of everyday life. His haunting, mysterious poems repay many re-readings * Financial Times *
Driftwork reminds us that John Burnside was as prolific a poet as he was astonishing. Three decades produced 16 extraordinary collections, of which this Selected Poems offers a generous overview – Fiona Sampson * Tablet *
Wonderful, and beautifully edited… The book is elegantly compiled… [Burnside’s] work is a constant struggle against the unspeakable, the unsayable, the tip of the tongue-ness of thing * Scotsman *

About The Author

John Burnside

John Burnside was among the most acclaimed writers of his generation. His novels, short stories, poetry, and memoirs won numerous awards, including the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the Saltire Scottish Book of the Year, and, in 2023, the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. In 2011, Black Cat Bone won both the Forward Prize and the T.S. Eliot Prize for poetry. He died in 2024.

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