In the 1960s and 1970s Robin Fulton Macpherson was active in Scottish
literary life as a poet, reviewer and editor. Since 1973 his home base has
been in Norway and in the decades since he has built a solid reputation as a
translator of Scandinavian poets, such as Tomas Tranströmer, Kjell Espmark
and Harry Martinson from Swedish and Olav H. Hauge from Norwegian.
His A Northern Habitat: Collected Poems 1960-2010 (Marick Press,
2013) was described by Carol Rumens in The Guardian as "a major achievement,
enriching the habitat of contemporary letters in our own archipelago
and beyond." John Glenday, in Northwords Now, referred to the book as
"a real treasure of a collection, a weighty, important reminder that Fulton
Macpherson is a prominent figure in Scottish poetry...His poetry is enduring
as granite. It will weather well."
David M. Black, in The Dark Horse, wrote that "these poems carry a
strong charge...They add up to a remarkable body of work... (and) stand up
quietly and resolutely for their values of integrity, thoughtfulness and the
importance of beauty."
Richard Price, in Poetry International, saw the author as "a master witness
of the unsettling dizziness of being, responding with simplicity of language
and complexity of thought," while Peter M. McDonald, in Rain Taxi,
felt certain that "A Northern Habitat will stand the test of time. It is arguably
the most important book yet from a Scottish poet in this new millennium."
