Robert Crawford with Young Eliot

Distinguished poet and St Andrews Professor Robert Crawford will be joining us to discuss his acclaimed biography, Young Eliot. This new work, the first authorised biography has used large amounts of Eliot’s own writing, and covers the period of his life up until the publication of The Waste Land in 1922.

Described as compelling and revelatory  by The Guardian, this is bound to become the definitive biography of one of the twentieth century’s most important literary figures. Meticulously detailed, Crawford chronicles Eliot’s journey from his familial home in St Louis, Missouri to his experiences as an immigrant in England. Crawford extensively quotes from Eliot, which illuminates how the lived experiences of this shy young poet affected his work.

Professor Crawford has previously published a biography of the Scotland’s finest, Robert Burns,  The Bard, alongside several volumes of poetry, the latest of which, Testament, a marvelous musing on Scottishness, was released to critical acclaim last year.

This is a fantastic opportunity  to examine Eliot’s work with Professor Crawford, who is not only one of the UK’s most accomplished literary critics, but also a fine poet, offering a nuanced understanding of the writer’s craft from these multi-varied dimensions.