Ian Hamilton Finlay

Erdmute Wenzel White (Purdue University)

Ed. by J. Derrick McClure, University of Aberdeen
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.3: Scottish Writing and Culture, 400-present.
Vol. editors: Kate Ash-Irisarri (University of Edinburgh), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), J. Derrick McClure (University of Aberdeen), Andrew Radford (University of Glasgow)

Dates

Born 28 Oct 1925
Died 27 Mar 2006
Activity 1945-2006

Places

Born in Scotland
Active in Scotland

Activities

Primary

Artist
Poet
Story-writer

Resources

Finlay's Works

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Ian Hamilton Finlay, poet-artist-philosopher, born 28 October 1925, Nassau, Bahamas, died 27 March 2006, aged 80, Edinburgh, Scotland. At the early age of six, Finlay was returned to Scotland to attend boarding school. His father ran a bootleg rum schooner from the Bahamas into Prohibition-era America, perhaps the earliest association of the sailing and marine images which would become a hallmark of Finlay’s work. With the end of prohibition laws, his parents purchased an orange grove in Florida. When a hard frost ruined the orange harvest, his impoverished family moved back to Glasgow. At the start of the Clydeside bombings of the Second World War, Finlay was evacuated to the village of Gartmore in Perthshire. He discontinued his intermittent education at the age of thirteen. Wanting…

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4377 words

Citation: White, Erdmute Wenzel. "Ian Hamilton Finlay". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 June 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5113, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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