Jim Carruth was born in 1963 in Johnstone and grew up on his family’s farm near Kilbarchan. After spending a number of years in Turkey he returned to live in Renfrewshire. He has had work widely published, including seven pamphlet collections to date. His first, Bovine Pastoral (2004), was runner up in the Callum MacDonald Memorial Award. The follow-up, High Auchensale, was chosen as one of the Herald books of the year in 2006. Prodigal was winner of CMMA in 2015; and Killochries, his first full-length book, was shortlisted for the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize as well as the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year..
Jim enjoys collaborating with other artists. He worked with linocut artist Barbara Robertson on the illustrated fable—Baxter’s Old Ram Sang the Blues—and he regularly works in collaboration with sculptor Andy Scott. In 2009 he was awarded the Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship and won the James McCash competition. In 2010 he was one of nine poets showcased in Oxford Poets.
He has performed at The Edinburgh Fringe, StAnza, and Wigtown Book festivals and the Glastonbury, Connect and Wickerman music festivals. He set up and currently chairs St Mungo’s Mirrorball, a 180 strong network of Glasgow poets and poetry lovers. As part of this he has created Clydebuilt—an apprentice scheme for poets of potential.
Publications
- Killochries, Freight Press, 2015
- Prodigal, Mariscat press
- Rider at the Crossing, HappenStance, 2012
- Working the Hill, Mariscat, 2011
- Grace Notes 1959, Dreadful Night Press, 2010
- Baxter’s Old Ram Sang the Blues, Ludovic Press, 2008
- Cowpit Yowe, Ludovic Press, 2008
- High Auchensale, Ludovic Press, 2006
- Bovine Pastoral, Ludovic Press, 2004
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