A.B. Jackson

Name Andrew Buchanan Jackson

Born Glasgow, 19 June 1965

South 1966: parents moved down to the village of Bramhall in Cheshire. Toddled along to Queensgate Primary School at the age of five. Reading Marvel comics, obsessively sketching on any available surface, leaping around at Jean McLachlan's Scottish Highland and Country dance classes in nearby Cheadle every weekend.

North 1976: back to Scotland at the age of eleven, settling in the town of Cupar (Kingdom of Fife). Couldn't understand what people were saying (Arse??). Secondary education at Bell Baxter High School. Found language at the age of 15, inspired and disturbed by early Peter Gabriel lyrics (Foxtrot, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway) and by the poetry of Robert Frost at school.

City 1983-1987: studied English Literature at Edinburgh University after deciding to abandon art as a career move. Shared a flat with Roddy Lumsden and began writing seriously, attending workshops with Liz Lochhead and Anne Stevenson. Immersed in the work of Wallace Stevens, Carl Gustav Jung and Steven Patrick Morrissey.

Band 1989: drew political cartoons for the Gibraltar Chronicle after going on holiday there by mistake. Back to Edinburgh to work in the Cameo Cinema, playing the flute in a band called Sam Harlet with singer Martin Furey, guitarist Robin Hurt, and Greig Stewart (now drumming with Guillemots).

Eire 1992: moved to Dublin with the band. Nobody loved us. Quit soon after to pursue Guinness, paid for by selling sweets and brushing-down the aisles at the Light House Cinema on Middle Abbey Street.

Back 1995: back to Glasgow. Worked full-time in Lauder's Bar on Sauchiehall Street for three years before returning to higher education at Strathclyde University, Department of Information Science. Worked for five years as IT Librarian / Library Services Manager at Glasgow College of Building & Printing (now Glasgow Metropolitan College).

Now 2005: working as Senior Information Manager with NHS Education for Scotland, responsible for library IT systems development.

Design Web sites created for Gerry Cambridge, Alexander Hutchison, Tim Turnbull, Caligula on Ice, and The Poem.

Poetry Published in the following books:

› The Message: crossing the tracks between poetry and pop (The Poetry Society, 1999)
› Anvil New Poets 3 (Anvil Press, 2001)
› When the Words Won't Come (British Stammering Association, 2003)
› Forward Book of Poetry 2004 (Faber & Faber, 2003)
› The Book of St Andrews (Polygon, 2005)
› 'Fire Stations' available from Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.com, or Anvil Press

› Poems online at Poetry International Web, The Poem, The Guardian, and The Scottish Poetry Library.
› 3rd prize in the TLS/Foyles Poetry Competition 2007 for 'Acts'
› 3rd prize in the Wigtown Poetry Competition 2006 for 'Foxes'
› Commendation in the National Poetry Competition 1999 for 'Saturday Night'
› 'Fire Stations' awarded the Felix Dennis Prize for Best First Collection in the Forward Poetry Prizes 2003

Sounds Playing flute on the Bohinta album Belladonna. Sound clips available at Amazon.de

Photos Click on the thumbnail images below for the full-size pictures.

1 2 3 4

1 by Susan B Breakenridge © 2003, 2008 (222 KB, 800x800 dpi)
2 by Chloe Barter © 2004, 2008, for the Scottish Poetry Library portrait series 2002-2004 (362 KB, 600x600 dpi)
3 by Jen Hadfield © 2006, 2008, Shetland (178 KB, 100x100 dpi)
4 by Albert Buntin © 2008, StAnza Poetry Festival 2008 (300 KB, 200x200 dpi)