Helen Lamb (1956-27 March 2017) was an award-winning Scottish poet and short story writer who also worked with the cancer caring Maggie's Centres in the Forth Valley promoting the role of writing in well-being.[1]
Helen Lamb | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1956 |
| Died | 27 March 2017 |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Genre | Poetry, Short stories, Fiction |
| Notable awards | Scotland on Sunday Women 2000 Prize |
| Partner | Chris Powici |
Personal life edit
Lamb was a writer, educator, mother and grandmother [2] who lived in Dunblane with Chris Powici,[3] who is also a poet, former editor of literary magazine Northwords and a teaching fellow at the University of Stirling.
Career edit
Her poetry has been published in literary journals and in the joint anthology Strange Fish[4] along with fellow poet Magi Gibson. She also published a short story collection entitled Superior Bedsits and many of her stories were broadcast on radio.[5] Her work has been featured in other general anthologies[1] and she was one of the writers included in Working Words: Scottish creative writing, which was designed to promote creative writing in schools.[6] Her poem "Spell of the Bridge" was one of those reproduced on a postcard for National Poetry Day in 2007.[7] Lamb worked at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Stirling as a Royal Literary Fund Fellow, tutoring in creative writing.[1] As well as working with cancer charity Maggie's Centres, Lamb also worked with adult survivors of childhood abuse, editing anthologies of their writings.[1] She died suddenly in 2017 shortly after finishing her first novel Three Kinds of Kissing,[8] described by fellow author Tracey Emerson as "a subtly devastating wonder".[9]
Awards edit
Lamb won the Scotland on Sunday/Women 2000 prize for her story "Long Grass, Moon City".
Publications edit
Works edit
- Strange Fish (1997), with Magi Gibson
- Superior Bedsits : and other stories (Polygon 2001)
- Three Kinds of Kissing (2018)
Anthologies edit
- Original prints : New writing from Scottish women. Vol. 4. (1992)
- Working words / Valerie Thornton. (1995)
- Different boundaries / edited by Barbara Weightman and Elsie MacRae. (1995)
- Last things first / edited by A.L. Kennedy and James McGonigal. (1995)
- After the Watergaw : a collection of new poetry from Scotland inspired by water / edited by Robert Davidson. (1998)
- Friends and kangaroos / edited by Moira Burgess and Donny O'Rourke. (1999)
- Across the water : Irishness in modern Scottish writing / edited by James McGonigal, Donny O'Rourke & Hamish Whyte. (2000)
- Going up Ben Nevis in a bubble car / edited by Moira Burgess and Janet Paisley. (2001)
- Milking the haggis / edited by Valerie Thornton and Hamish Whyte. (2004)
- The Edinburgh book of twentieth-century Scottish poetry / edited by Maurice Lindsay and Lesley Duncan. (2005)
- The thing that mattered most : Scottish poems for children / edited by Julie Johnstone. (2006)
- The dynamics of balsa / edited by Liz Niven and Brian Whittingham. (2007)
- Bucket of frogs / edited by Liz Niven and Brian Whittingham. (2008)
- Songs of other places / edited by Gerry Cambridge and Zoë Strachan. (2014)
References edit
- ^ a b c d "Helen Lamb". The Royal Literary Fund. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Helen". The Grantidote. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ "Chris Powici | Poet". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 5 February 2020.
- ^ Gibson, Magi (1997). Strange fish. Lamb, Helen. Glasgow: Duende. ISBN 1-900537-03-6. OCLC 46333149.
- ^ Lamb, Helen (2001). Superior bedsits, and other stories. Edinburgh: Polygon. ISBN 0-7486-6306-1. OCLC 49894371.
- ^ Thornton, Valerie (1995). Working words. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-61870-1. OCLC 33188219.
- ^ "National Poetry Day 2007 Archives". Scottish Poetry Library. Retrieved 6 February 2020.
- ^ Lamb, Helen (2018). Three kinds of kissing. Glasgow, Scotland: Vagabond Voices. ISBN 1-908251-91-3. OCLC 1048095478.
- ^ "Three Kinds of Kissing". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 12 February 2020.