The best of enemies – Ian Hamilton Finlay and Hugh MacDiarmid
IN March this year I paid a visit to Professor Alan Riach in his office at the Scottish Literature Department of the University of Glasgow. A few weeks previously, Riach had written an article in The National (“The school of hard Knox”, February 25, 2019), about the first, posthumously published, edition of poems by Joan Ure (1918-78). As publisher of The Tiny Talent: Selected Poems by Joan Ure – co-edited with Richie McCaffery, with a foreword by Alasdair Gray – I’d come to discuss a forthcoming event at Glasgow’s Gallery of Modern Art, in which Riach had agreed to participate. “A Nudge for Joan Ure”, held in May, also included excerpts from two of Ure’s plays. It proved to be a terrific success, something effectively guaranteed by the participation of friends of the author, with a trio of actors – or rather a quartet, for in addition to chairing the proceedings, Riach enthusiastically took on one of the roles.
