Millenium Honorary Graduate Reading His Poetry for the Public
George Bruce, who will receive the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) this July from the University of Aberdeen, will read from his latest collection, Pursuit, which won the Saltire Prize for Scottish Book of the Year, and was published last year on his 90th birthday.
The public will have this opportunity to hear one of Scotland’s most distinguished poets on Tuesday, April 25th at 7:00 pm in the Linklater Room, King’s College, Old Aberdeen, as part of the University’s Reading Aloud series.
Bruce will be accompanied by Kenneth Steven, Writer and Reader in Residence with Aberdeen Libraries. His published work includes poetry and fiction, most recently The Missing Days and The Summer is Ended.
George Bruce’s latest collection, Pursuit: Poems 1986-1988 could be considered the climax of his life’s work. In it he develops themes from his first book, Sea Talk (1944). He returns to his native town Fraserburgh, known locally as ‘The Broch’, about which poem Dr J H Alexander comments: “On The Edge – the Broch is among the finest of all his personal achievements; at once personal and communal, wistful and humorous, daring and artful. It helps to ensure that Pursuit is not a sentimental revisiting of the world of Sea Talk but a real new development.”
George Bruce produced programmes on the Arts for the BBC for over twenty years. He was a theatre critic for the Sunday Times for twelve years and the first Fellow in Creative Writing at Glasgow University (1971-1973). In 1982 he held the Scottish-Australian Writing Fellowship. He is an Honorary President of the Scottish Poetry Library.
Admission is free and open to the public.