A Handsel

Liz Lochhead is one of the country's leading poets. Her work has paved the way and inspired some of the most inspirational voices writing in Scotland today, including Ali Smith, Kathleen Jamie, Jackie Kay and Carol Ann Duffy.

In A Handsel, the first new poems from Scotland's second modern Makar since 2016's Fugitive Colours, the poet celebrates people and those small momentous moments that encapsulate so much of her work. It is human relationships that sit at the heart of these poems; each one is a beautifully realised snapshot that explores the poet's past, her friendships and revisits favourite characters from earlier collections. This landmark publication collects for the first time the poetry of Liz Lochhead.

Bringing work back into print, this collected poems publishes all of the poet's collections, presented in their entirety: Memo for Spring, Islands, The Grimm Sisters, Dreaming Frankenstein, The Colour of Black and White and Fugitive Colours, as well as poems from Bagpipe Muzak and True Confessions.



Liz Lochhead was born in Motherwell in 1947. While studying at the Glasgow School of Art she began to write seriously, gradually losing her way with her initial dream of becoming a painter. Her first book of poetry, Memo for Spring, was published in 1972 and sold 5,000 copies. She has since published several plays and poetry collections including most recently Fugitive Colours. Liz Lochhead was Scots Makar from 2011–2016 and was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. She lives in Glasgow.



'This collection of Liz Lochhead’s poems is full of humour and a sheer joy in language, and allows for a deeper appreciation of her work to date'



'this book is further revelation of the combined light touch and deep discipline of this poet and thinker who never sells us short and asks of everything with a tenacity that’s a gift of warmth, spirit, unending intelligence'



'A Handsel brings together her substantial body of poetry, allowing us finally to understand its coherence and seriousness... Lochhead is a deeply enjoyable writer - her storytelling blend of the confessional, the fabular and the lightly feminist is thoroughly more-ish'



'Moving, revealing and remarkable in equal measure'



'Liz Lochhead is the very epitome of an exceptional and versatile writer who has made an outstanding contribution to the Scottish literary ecology. She has been a literary trailblazer, inspiring generations of young people who study her work, and writers wishing to emulate her authenticity . . . We owe her a debt of gratitude'



'An opus of her life's work... estimating Liz Lochhead in terms of her impact and her place in the national psyche isn't that tricky a job. Just look around you'