W. N. Herbert
Herbert FRSL, also known as Bill Herbert (born 1961) is a poet from Dundee, Scotland. He writes in both English and Scots. He and Richard Price founded the poetry magazine Gairfish.
W. N. Herbert

David Konečný · MAČ 2014 · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Bill Herbert
- Born
- 1961
- Birthplace
- Dundee, Scotland
- Occupation
- poet, academic
- Education
- Brasenose College, Oxford
- Nationality
- United Kingdom.
- Honours
- Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Cholmondeley Award.
- Languages
- English and Scots.
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4136974 · wikipedia · W. N. Herbert
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France
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Biography
Biography
He currently teaches at Newcastle University.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Bill Herbert • Pen Name — W. N. Herbert • Born — 1961 • Birthplace — Dundee, Scotland • Occupation — poet, academic • Language — English and Scots • Education — Brasenose College, Oxford • Website — https: wnherbert.wordpress.com
Early life
Early life
Herbert was born in 1961 in Dundee. He was educated at Grove Academy and then studied at Brasenose College, Oxford gaining a Doctor of Philosophy in 1992 after completing a thesis on the work of Hugh MacDiarmid.
Documentary record
W. N. Herbert, born in 1961 in Dundee, United Kingdom, is documented in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. The birth is recorded by the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Career
Career
In 1994, he was one of 20 poets chosen by a panel of judges, as the New Generation in a promotion organised by the Poetry Society. He was one of the writers involved in the Informationist poetry movement that emerged in Scotland in the 1990s. He became a Professor of Poetry & Creative Writing at the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics, Newcastle University. In September 2013, Herbert was appointed as Dundee's first makar.
Literary criticism
• To Circumjack MacDiarmid (1992)
Poetry collections
• Dundee Doldrums (1991) • The Testament of the Reverend Thomas Dick (1994) • Cabaret McGonagall (1996) • The Laurelude (1998) • The Big Bumper Book of Troy (2002) • Bad Shaman Blues (2006) • Three Men on the Metro, with Andy Croft and Paul Summers, Five Leaves (2009) • Omnesia (2013) • The Wreck of the Fathership (2020)
Awards and honours
He became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2015.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article W. N. Herbert, revision 1372382983 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Edinburgh University Press. The Edinburgh Book of Twentieth-Century Scottish Poetry. 385–386. 2005. 0-7486-2015-X.
- 2.Poetry: Poets A to Z: W. N. Herbert. Scottish Poetry Library.
- 3.Lister, David. New generation of writers presents poetry in motion: Some of today's best poetic talents tend to eschew writing of love. The Independent. 13 January 1994.
- 4.English Literature, Languages and Linguistics: Staff. Newcastle University.
- 5.Cowing, Emma. Dundee appoints WN Herbert as first maker. The Scotsman. 15 September 2013.
- 6.Royal Society of Literature. Current RSL Fellows.
- 7.O’Brien, Sean. The secret weapon of his generation. The Sunday Times. 19 February 2006.
- 8.Three Men on the Metro. P. N. Review 197. 37. 3. January 2011.
- 9.Kelly, Stuart. Book review: Omnesia by WN Herbert. The Scotsman. 30 March 2013.
References
Citations
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Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Studied at
1- Grove AcademyOrganisation
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 21 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,529 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- W. H. AudenAuthor
- W. H. DaviesAuthor
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- W. H. OliverAuthor
- W. N. HodgsonAuthor
- W. R. BurnettAuthor
- W. R. RodgersAuthor
- W. R. TittertonAuthor
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