Sinclair, Iain

(1943- )

   Novelist, short story writer, non-fiction author, poet and film-maker, he was born in Cardiff, the son of a Welsh general medical practitioner. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin, at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London, and at the London School of Film Technique (now London Film School). Much of his early work was poetry, followed by mostly fiction, then non-fiction; much of his early work was self-published. His novel Downriver (1991) won the James Tait Memorial Prize and the 1992 Encore Prize. The book envisages the U.K. under the rule of the Widow, a grotesque version of Margaret Thatcher (British Conservative prime minister, 1979-1990). His 2002 non-fiction book London Orbital (with a documentary film of the same name and subject) describes the series of trips he took on foot, following the M25, London's outerring motorway. Some of his poetry publications: Back Garden Poems, 1970. The Birth Rug, 1973. Lud Heat, 1975. Suicide Bridge, 1979. Flesh Eggs and Scalp Metal: Selected Poems 1970-1987, 1987. The Ebbing of the Kraft, 1997. Some of his poems: "Autistic Poses," "Big Meal," "Crossing the Morning," "German Bite," "Kristallnacht," "World's Oldest Comedian is Dead."

   Sources: A Various Art. Andrew Crozier and Tim Longville, eds. Carcanet Press, 1987. Other: British and Irish Poetry Since 1970. Richard Caddel and Peter Quartermain, eds. Wesleyan University Press, 1999. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The New British Poetry, 1968-88. Gillian Allnutt, Fred D'Aguiar and Ken Edwards, eds. Grafton Books, 1989. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia).