Island in the Sound

Niall Campbell was born in 1984 on the island of South Uist, one of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. He now lives in Fife. He received an Eric Gregory Award in 2011 and an Arvon-Jerwood Mentorship in 2013, and won the Poetry London Competition in 2013. His first book-length collection, Moontide (Bloodaxe Books, 2014), won what was then Britain’s biggest poetry prize, the £20,000 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award, as well as the Saltire First Book of the Year Award; it was also shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection, the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize and the Michael Murphy Memorial Prize, and was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation. First Nights: poems, a selection from Moontide with additional new poems, was published by Princeton University Press in the US in 2016. His second book-length collection, Noctuary (Bloodaxe Books, 2019), was shortlisted for the 2019 Forward Prize for Best Collection. His third full collection, The Island in the Sound (2024), was shortlisted for both the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2025 and Scotland's Poetry Book of the Year in The Saltires: Scotland's National Book Awards 2025, and longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2024. He wrote the libretto for Draught, an opera by Anna Appleby, which was performed by the BBC Philharmonic in 2022. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra Chorus performed Jay Capperauld’s setting of his poem ‘The Night Watch’ (from Noctuary) in 2026. He is Editor of Poetry London.

• Part I13 ‘I am so Happy. I am so Happy. I Loved my Life’14 Apprenticeship15 Island Sonnets: Fugay16 The Sparrow’s Legs17 The Night Birds18 Inside the Trojan Horse: A War Poem19 Tongues of Water20 Love Letters from the Tenth Year of Marriage, letter 322 After the Language Deprivation Experiment25 A Man Carrying His Own Door26 The Night Auditor27 Hamelin28 Morning Lessons29 Three Folk-tale Characters Who Are Definitely Not Metaphors for the Poem32 Island Sonnets: Delos33 The Death of the Birds34 They Have Crept Down,35 Barn Owl on Newburgh Road36 Love Letters from the Tenth Year of Marriage, letter 637 A Car for Jacob38 Island Sonnet: Eriskay39 The Cockle-picker40 The Salmon of All Knowledge42 The Islander as a Theatre Barman Before the Ballet43 An Afterlife of Those Who Build44 The Flesh Tree45 Island Sonnets: Sandy Island46 Theology47 Love Letters from the Tenth Year of Marriage, letter 448 The Cured50 Pastimes51 Island Sonnets: Lingay52 Learning to Drink Seawater53 Lighthouse Keeper, Believing54 The GiftPart II57 Life Mask of William Blake58 The Harpy of Rubha Meall Nan Caorach61 Listening to the Accent of Borges62 Houdini63 Beginnings65 Island Sonnets: The Poem66 The Burning of the Bridge67 After the Ending of the World68 First Fires69 From the Devil’s Songbook70 Love Letters from the Tenth Year of Marriage, letter 271 Island Sonnets: Mingulay72 The Egg Gatherers of St Kilda73 The End of Heaven75 On the Deep Ocean76 Mouse77 Love Letters from the Tenth Year of Marriage, letter 178 Rosemary79 On the Bone Oracles80 Wildness81 Lighthouse Keeper, Doubt82 Island Sonnets: The Shadow83 What is the Poem?84 Love Letters from the Tenth Year of Marriage, letter 886 Blackbird Psalm87 The Transformed Fight88 The Windows89 The Nine Billion Names91 The Sound93 Acknowledgements95 Biographical note

Niall Campbell to me reveals a rare poetic sensibility, and joyous wordsmith... allied to a singular sensitivity to mood and atmosphere. His muscular phrasing and seductive cadences give his poems a burnished quality; while his perceptions of the natural world here predominantly the land and seascape of Uist – and that of myth... interwoven with insight into his workings as a poet... instil a recurring sense of wonder.