Professor Duncan Munro Glen (11 January 1933 – 20 September 2008) was a Scottish poet, literary editor and Emeritus Professor of Visual Communication at Nottingham Trent University. He became known with his first full-length book, Hugh MacDiarmid and the Scottish Renaissance. His many verse collections included from Kythings and other poems (1969), In Appearances (1971), Realities Poems (1980), Selected Poems 1965–1990 (1991), Selected New Poems 1987–1996 (1998) and Collected Poems 1965–2005 (2006). His Autobiography of a Poet appeared with Ramsay Head Press in 1986. He edited Akros magazine for 51 numbers from August 1965 to October 1983.Duncan Glen, "AKROS", in Parker, Geoff (ed.), Cencrastus No. 20, Spring 1985, pp. 32–33, His work to promote Scottish poets and artists included Hugh MacDiarmid and Ian Hamilton Finlay, among others. Some of his poetry was translated into Italian.
Early life and career Glen was born in Westburn, Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the son of a white-collar worker in The Steel Company of Scotland, Hallside, near Newton Station. He was educated at West Coats Primary School in Cambuslang, then at Rutherglen Academy, but left at 15 to become an office boy and apprentice printer in Glasgow and Kirkcaldy, before studying at Edinburgh College of Art. After national service in the RAF as a photographic interpreter, he became a typographic designer with the HMSO and did freelance typographic design for publishers in London.
Glen then moved into graphic-design education, first at Watford College of Technology. After a brief spell as an editor in Glasgow with Robert Gibson & Sons Ltd, educational publishers, at what was to become Preston Polytechnic, he was appointed Professor of Visual Communication at what would be Nottingham Trent University. Glen served on the Council of National Academic Awards.
Glen founded Akros Publications in 1965, to publish Scottish poetry and literary criticism; from 1965 to 2006 over 250 works appeared under the Akros imprint. They included poetry, critical and historical studies, Akros magazine (51 issues) and Zed 2 0 (19 numbers), and fiction by Robert McLellan, John Herdman and others. His aim as editor of Akros magazine was to publish modern Scottish poetry in Scots and English, cutting across the "fighting cliques" of the time. Alongside his own poetry, he produced several studies of Scottish literature, anthologies, and a range of publications in other areas, including a history of typography, the definitive history of Cambuslang, a place for which he retained a affection, and an illustrated history of Kirkcaldy, where he latterly lived.
Glen was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers in 1977. In 1974 and 1998 he received awards from the Scottish Arts Council "for services to Scottish literature" and "in recognition of his many years as a publisher and editor and entrepreneurial activities for Scottish literature". In 1991 he received the Howard Sergeant Memorial Award "in recognition of long and devoted services to poetry". In 2000 he was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters by Paisley University.
Bibliography Works and anthologies produced by Duncan Glen, to be found in the National Library of Scotland and the British Library: 21 poems after drawings, etc. by George Hollingworth, et al., 2000 Antigruppo Palermo, gruppoanti, 1974 Apprentice angel/Hugh MacDiarmid, 1963 Autobiography of a poet, 1986 Bibliography of Scottish poets from Stevenson to 1974 compiled with an introduction by Duncan Glen with a preface by Hugh MacDiarmid, 1974 Bonnie fechter [sound recording]: Alexander Scott 1920–1989, 1990 Bright they shine: Cambuslang poetry/by Patrick Hamilton... et al.; with an introduction by Duncan Glen, 2001 and wellies, or, Sui generis a sequence of poems by Duncan Glen with illustrations by George Hollingworth, 1976 Christmas fable for Margaret Duncan Glen Cled score poems Duncan Glen, 1974 Clydesdale a sequence o poems by Duncan Glen, 1971 Clydeside kinsfolk: the lives and times of a typically extended Lowland *Scottish family 1694 to 1994: Cambuslang, *Rutherglen & East Kilbride/by Duncan Glen, 1995 Collected poems, 1965–2005/by Duncan Glen, 2006 Echoes: frae classical and Italian poetry/by Duncan Glen, 1992 Elegies: a selection from 1966–2003/by Duncan Glen, 2006 Essay in response to critical essays on contemporary Scottish poetry in Akros magazine/George Bruce; edited by Duncan Glen, 2005 European poetry in Scotland an anthology of translations edited by Peter France & Duncan Glen, 1989 Evergreen song lyrics : a selection from the poetry of the British Isles & America/chosen by Duncan Glen with commentaries, 2000 Extended Glen family of Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland & their descendants 1694–1998/by Duncan Glen, 1998 Familiar epistles between William Hamilton of Gilbertfield in Cambuslang and Allan Ramsay in Edinburgh: with an extract from William Hamilton of Gilbertfield's version of Blind Harry's Wallace/edited with an introduction by Duncan Glen; with prefaces by R. K. D. Milne and Neil McCallum, 2000 Feres poems by Duncan Glen, 1971 Five literati an anon (Scot lit. anti lit. pop) symposium created by Duncan Glen, 1976 Follow! Follow! Follow! and other poems by Duncan Glen, 1976 Forward from Hugh MacDiarmid, or, Mostly out of Scotland being fifteen years of Duncan Glen, Akros Publications 1962–1977 by Duncan Glen with a check-list of publications, August 1962 – August 1977, 1977 Four Scottish poets of Cambuslang & Dechmont Hill, 1626–1990: Patrick Hamilton, Minister at Cambuslang 1626–1645, Lieutenant William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, Cambuslang [c. 1665–1751], John Struthers, born at East Kilbride, and poet of Dechmont [1776–1850 and Duncan Glen, 1996 Friars of Berwick: a narrative poem in Scots, edited with an introduction by Duncan Glen, 2002 Gaitherings poems in Scots by Duncan Glen, 1977 Geeze! a sequence of poems by Duncan Glen, 1985 Graphic lines, 1975 Historic Fife Murders at Falkland, St. Andrews & Magus Muir: journeys through Fife between Forth and Tay/by Duncan Glen, 2002 Hugh Glen and the Victoria Drinking Fountain, Cambuslang: a family memoir, 2005 Hugh MacDiarmid & Duncan Glen: a prospect from Brownsbank: poems, biographical notes and a bibliography, 1998 Hugh MacDiarmid, a critical survey edited by Duncan Glen, 1972 Hugh MacDiarmid, an essay for 11 August 1977 Hugh MacDiarmid and the Scottish Renaissance, 1964 Hugh MacDiarmid, or, Out of Langholm and into the World Hugh MacDiarmid: rebel poet and prophet. A short note on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, 1962 Illustrious Fife: literary, historical & architectural pathways & walks, 1998 In appearances, 1971 In place of wark, or, Man of art: a sequence in thirty pairts, 1977 In search of Serif Books, the Stanley Press & Joseph Mardel, publisher of Maurice Lindsay's Hurlygush and Sydney Goodsir Smith's Under the Eildon tree, & taking serious note of William Maclellan & Callum Macdonald: with photographs and illustrations, 2006 In the small hours, or, To be about to be a poem in thirty parts, 1984 Individual and the twentieth-century Scottish literary tradition, 1971 Inextinguishable part 14 of realities poems, 1977 Ither sangs, 1978 John Atman and other poems; with an introduction by Leonard Mason, 2001 Journey into Scotland: poems, 1991 Journey past – a sequence of poems, 1971 Keepsake for New Year 2000 from Akros Publications: poems, 2000 Kirkcaldy: a new illustrated history, 2004 Kirkcaldy: a photographic guide and introduction to the history of the town, 2005 Lanark & the Falls of Clyde...: Lanarkshire past and present, a rediscovery & anthology, 2001 Literary masks of Hugh MacDiarmid. [Illustrated], 1964 Long Calderwood, old East Kilbride; and its associations with John & William Hunter and the poetry of Anne Hunter, Joanna Baillie & John Struthers, with a selection of poems by Anne Hunter and Joanna Baillie, 2005 Makars' walk. Walks in the old town of Edinburgh, with an anthology of poetry selected and walked by Duncan Glen, 1990 Morning taken with the sun : an anthology of poems in short shining stanzas/[selection and design, Duncan Glen], 2001 Mr & Mrs J. L. Stoddart at home, a poem by Duncan Glen, 1975 Nation in a parish: a new historical prospect of Scotland from the parish of Cambuslang, 1995 New history of Cambuslang, 1998 Nottingham: a poem, 1984 Nuova poesia Scozzese/[edited by] Duncan Glen, [translated by] Nat Scammacca, 1976 Nuova Scozia : undici poesie di Duncan Glen/scelte e tradotte dallo scozzese da Enzo Bonventre, 1996 Of marks & memories : a gallimaufry of printers', publishers' and others' marks, devices, emblems, crests, arms, symbols or logos, 2005 Of philosophers and tinks. A sequence of poems, 1977 On midsummer evenin merriest of nichts? 1981 Orchardlands & Avondale & Bothwell...: Lanarkshire past and present, a rediscovery & anthology, 2001 Out to the Calf of Man, September 1989: a poem and etchings, 1990 Photographic celebration at the ruins of Bighty Farm, 2002 Poems in Scots Hugh MacDiarmid [edited by Duncan Glen], 1963 Poems on art works: a selection by Duncan Glen, 2003 Poetry of the Scots: an introduction and bibliographical guide to poetry in Gaelic, Scots, Latin and English, 1991 Poets & paintings : reinterpretations: an essay, 2003 Preston Polytechnic poets : Duncan Glen, Ian Harrow, Philip Pacey, Hugh Probyn/edited by Duncan Glen; with illustrations by John Hodkinson, 1977 Preston's new buildings by John Brook and Duncan Glen with photographs by Myra Jones and John Brook, 1975 Printing type designs : a new history from Gutenberg to 2000, 2001 Querencia: saggio di traduzione poetica/Enzo Bonventre, 1994 Ravenscraig Castle: with illustrations of Pathhead, Sinclairtown & Dysart, 2001 Realities poems by Duncan Glen, 1980 Robert Louis Stevenson and the Covenanters on the Bass Rock & 'The tale of Tod Lapraik', 2002 Ruined rural Fife churches/photographed and introduced by Duncan Glen, with a selection of photographs of other ruined buildings, 2002 Ruins of Newark Castle, St. Monans, autumn 2002/introduced and photographed by Duncan Glen, 2003 Scottish literary periodicals: three essays/David Finkelstein, Margery Palmer McCulloch, Duncan Glen, 1998 Scottish literature: a new history from 1299 to 1999, 1999 Scottish poetry now as seen from London by Simon Foster, 1966 Seasons of delight: an anthology of poems on gardens, flowers, greenwoods & the sea/compiled and edited by Duncan Glen & Margaret Glen, 1998 Selected elegies: poems with photographs/by Duncan Glen, 2001 Selected essays of Hugh MacDiarmid edited with an introduction by Duncan Glen, 1969 Selected new poems: nineteen-eighty-seven to nineteen-ninety-six, 1998 Selected poems 1965–1990, 1991 Selected Scottish and other essays/by Duncan Glen; with an introduction by John Herdman, 1999 Seventeen poems, 1997 Situations – a sequence of poems by Duncan Glen with illustrations by Derek Carruthers, 1984 Something of the night and of the sun/[selection and design, Duncan Glen] 2001 Splendid Lanarkshire: past and present: a rediscovery and anthology of prose & verse/written and compiled by Duncan Glen, 1997 Spoiled for choice poems by Duncan Glen, 1976 The State of Scotland, a poem by Duncan Glen, 1983 Stevenson's Scotland/edited by Tom Hubbard & Duncan Glen, 2003 Stones of time. A sequence of poems by Duncan Glen, 1984 Sunny summer Sunday afternoon in the park? 1969 Tales to be told – poems by Duncan Glen, 1987 Ten bird sangs by Duncan Glen, 1978 Ten sangs by Duncan Glen, 1978 Ten sangs of luve by Duncan Glen, 1978 "This is no can of beans": a prospect from the window of a small-press publisher by Duncan Glen], 1999 Three/trittico translators of poems by Duncan Glen: Nat Scammacca, Enzo Bonventre, Marco Scalabrino: Scots and English, Italiano and Siciliano, 2001 Traivellin man. A sequence of poems by Duncan Glen with frontispiece by John Hodkinson, 1977