TRIBUTES have been paid to the poet, writer and critic Tom Leonard, who has died at the age of 74.
The family of the celebrated, ground-breaking, writer has confirmed he died yesterday morning (21 December) after a period of time in hospital.
He was perhaps known best for his poems in Glaswegian dialect of Scots, notably Six Glasgow Poems and The Six O'Clock News.
Leonard, whose book Intimate Voices, in 1984, won the Scottish Book of the Year award, was also known for his critique of the education system.
The director of the Scottish Poetry Library, Asif Khan, said: "With the death of Tom Leonard, Scottish literature bids farewell to one of its genuine giants.
"He was a pioneer committed to representing the language and concerns of his West of Scotland working-class community at a time when such representations were scant to non-existent.
"The attitudes he exposed in his ground-breaking poem ‘Six O’Clock News’ remain relevant decades after its publication; his analysis of the way in which accent, grammar, spelling and pronunciation are used to sustain power structures is as penetrating today as it was the day it was written."
He added: "He was also a champion of those who’d gone before him, his anthology Radical Renfrew uncovering a history of working class voices lost to history.
"His humour, his experimentalism, his commitment to his craft and untameable intelligence will be much missed by readers and the many writers he continues to influence."
Many tributes are being paid to Leonard on social media.
Born in Glasgow in 1944, with Alasdair Gray and James Kelman, he was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow in 2001, a position he held until 2009.
The publisher Kevin Williamson, founder of Rebel Inc. and Neu! Reekie! said on Twitter: "Didnt think 2018 could get much worse but hearing Tom Leonard has now left us is terrible news.
"Loved that man so much.
"An inspiration who changed Scottish poetry forever & even how we think about our own language. Totally irreplaceable."
Mairi Kidd, the interim head of literature, languages and publishing at Creative Scotland, said: “We are all very sad to hear of the passing of Tom Leonard, poet, inspiration and someone who believed that ‘all livin language is sacred’.
"Our thoughts are with his family and many friends."
David Greig, the playwright and director of the Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh, said: "I am so sorry to hear of the death of Tom Leonard.
"His work in 'Intimate Voices' and beyond was a liberation for so many Scottish writers of written and the spoken word.
"He was a working class, Glaswegian voice who never toed any line. He will be very greatly missed."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel