Elected: 2015
Discipline: History, Theory and Practice of the Creative and Performing Arts
Professor Don Paterson
Professor of Poetry, University of St Andrews
Although he worked for many years as a jazz musician and composer (and occasionally still does), Professor Don Paterson now works primarily as a poet and has been Professor of Poetry at University of St. Andrews since 2002. He is the author of seven collections of verse, as well as a number of books of aphorism, criticism and poetic theory. He has also written drama and libretti and worked as an arts columnist for Scotland on Sunday and video games reviewer for the Times. He has a strong interest in how linguistic theory and cognitive science relate to poetry, and a mild obsession with digital music technology. He has been poetry editor at Picador Macmillan since 1997.