Don Paterson

Ben Wilkinson is Lecturer in English and Creative Writing at the University of Bolton. His books include the poetry collections Way More Than Luck (Seren, 2018) and Same Difference (Seren, 2022). For over a decade, he has regularly written on contemporary poetry for publications including The Guardian, The Poetry Review, and the Times Literary Supplement.

• Biographical OutlinePrologue1. For the Hell of It: Nil Nil (1993)2. Which Man I Am: God's Gift to Women (1997)3. Not Your Name, Not Mine: The Eyes (1999)4. Shrewd Obliquity of Speech: Landing Light (2003)5. Breath, You Invisible Poem: Orpheus (2006)6. None of This Matters: Rain (2009)Coda: 40 Sonnets (2015) and Zonal (2020)

‘The question of Paterson’s own history is addressed in Ben Wilkinson’s monograph Don Paterson, the first full-length study of the poet. It reads Paterson’s work from the first book, Nil Nil, to 2009’s Rain, with a “Coda” to consider the two most recent collections. Sometimes Wilkinson’s Paterson is a depersonalized, “modernist” Paterson; sometimes very much a poet of the inescapable self; occasionally, a poet of some ironic relation between these poles. It is to the book’s advantage when it doesn’t seek a grand narrative, the better to focus on the workings of the poems in detail; this it does exquisitely.’ Sam Quill, Times Literary Supplement