New Writer 2020: Patrick James Errington

Poems by Patrick James Errington appear internationally in journals and anthologies like The Poetry Review, Narrative, The Iowa Review, Boston Review, Oxford Poetry, The Cincinnati Review, Poets.org, & Best New Poets, as well as in two chapbooks, Glean (2018) & Field Studies (2019). His poems have also received numerous prizes, including the Poetry International Prize, The London Magazine Poetry Competition, The Wigtown Poetry Competition, The Plough Prize, & The National Poetry Competition.

Meanwhile, Patrick’s French translation of PJ Harvey’s The Hollow of the Hand was published in 2017, & his English translations of French-Algerian poet Hamid Tibouchi’s Veins appeared in Poetry International in 2021. He’s currently at work on a co-translation, with Richard Howard, of philosopher Émil Cioran’s Notebooks for NYRB.

Originally from Alberta, Canada, Patrick holds a BA from the University of Alberta, where he studied with Nobel laureate Derek Walcott, an MFA from Columbia University, and a PhD from the University of St Andrews. He now lives in Edinburgh, where he is a teaching and research fellow at the University of Edinburgh.

You can find out more about his work and upcoming readings on his website(this will open in a new window) or follow him on Twitter(this will open in a new window).

Writing sample

To a Boyhood in Winter

What more

to say? What

of this snow

-rankled sky?

This low lie

of comfort some

pale lip on these

car-furrowed streets

these towns strewn

with what should be

called living but

isn’t. Even wolves

curl around their

rocking hearts

to sleep.

Eventually even

I will leave you

be as you ask.

Patrick says:

"I’m immensely grateful to institutions like the Scottish Book Trust for supporting writers who make their homes here in Scotland. In times of walls and borders, it’s an enormous gift to be so warmly adopted by one’s country and an honour to be entrusted with helping to keep alive the memory of one of its poets – I hope I can live up to the task."