John Burnside. Photo © Helmut Fricke
We are very sad to report the death of John Burnside on 29 May, aged 69, following a short illness. John won the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2011 for Black Cat Bone, a collection the judges described as ‘a haunting book of great beauty, powered by love, childhood memory, human longing and loneliness’. He was also shortlisted for four other collections: All One Breath in 2014; The Light Trap in 2002; The Asylum Dance in 2000; and The Myth of the Twin in 1994. John was a distinguished Chair of judges for the T. S. Eliot Prize 2019, having previously judged the competition in 2001.
Robin Robertson, John’s long-standing editor and Poetry Publisher of Jonathan Cape, said: ‘It was one of the privileges of my life to work with John Burnside. Flawed but fearless, fabulously gifted, he was a truly great writer.’
John contributed to the series of articles we commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2023. He expressed his delight in being a judge in the year that the first woman winner was chosen – Anne Carson in 2001 – and the surprise and profound pleasure he felt about his own win in 2011.
An internationally celebrated poet, novelist, memoirist, writer of short stories and academic works, John Burnside received many major awards. In 2023 he won the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime’s achievement in literature. His most recent collection, Ruin, Blossom (Cape Poetry), was published in April this year.