Tom Leonard Finding Aid.
Reference Code
GB243 T/SOR/27
Title
Tom Leonard Collection.
Dates of Creation
2009- 2011
Extent
One package
Name of Creators
Tom Leonard
Level of Description
Fonds.
Administrative History
Tom Leonard is a Scottish poet, writer and critic. He is best known for his poems written in the Glaswegian dialect of Scots, particularly his Six Glasgow Poems and The Six O’Clock News. His work frequently deals with the relationship between language, class and culture. Leonard was born in Glasgow in 1944. His father was a train-driver who had moved to Scotland from Dublin in 1916. His mother, also of Irish descent, came from Saltcoats and had previously worked at the Nobel dynamite factory in Ardeer.
He began a degree at the University of Glasgow in 1967, but left after two years. While there he met poets including Tom McGrath, Alan Spence, Aonghas MacNeacail and Philip Hobsbaum, and also edited the university magazine. He returned to complete a degree in English and Scottish Literature in the 1970s.
He joined a group of new and distinctive authors, including Philip Hobsbaum, Alasdair Gray, Liz Lochhead, James Kelman, Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington, of whom Hobsbaum was the nucleus. He has been part of the Scottish literary scene for over fifty years. With Alasdair Gray and James Kelman, he was appointed Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Glasgow in 2001. He retired from the position in 2009. Following a period of illness, Tom sadly passed away at home on 21 December 2018, aged 74. His surviving family have been working to keep Tom’s work available. They maintain the https://www.facebook.com/TomLeonardLiteraryEstate page, which shows the efforts to republish his work and where to buy them. Tom’s website, tomleonard.co.uk is no longer actively maintained, and as far as possible, is left exactly as Tom left it.
Scope and Content
This collection includes material from Tom Leonard’s web journal and prose.
System of Arrangement
The arrangement of this material reflects the original order in which it was received.
Custodial History
Material created/collected by Tom Leonard.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Tom Leonard, Glasgow
Appraisal, Destruction, Scheduling
Appraised according to the Spirit of Revolt appraisal policy
Accruals
Could be further accruals.
Access Conditions
Open
Copyright Reproduction
Application for reproduction should be made to the Spirit of Revolt group.
Existence of Copies
No known copies
Finding Aids
Descriptive list available at Glasgow City Archives and on the Spirit of Revolt website.
Publication Note
No known publications
Related collections
Other Spirit of Revolt collections (Ref: T/SOR) are held at Glasgow City Archives.
Date(s) of Description
Compiled by John Couzin (Volunteer, Spirit of Revolt) March 2014.
Updated with a new accrual by Paula Larkin (Project Archivist) August 2018.
1. The State Of War.
Some Visual images from Tom Leonard web journal March 2009 – September 2011. Read On Line, PDF and other downloads.
2. Two Members Monologues and A Handy Form for Artists.
For use in connection with The City of Culture. Read On Line, PDF and other downloads.
3. Images and Comment
Images from Tom Leonard web journal 2013 to March 2014. Read On Line, PDF and other downloads.
4. Happily Married.
Two images by Tom Leonard on nationalism. 17th March 2014. Read On Line, PDF and other downloads.
5. Thoughts on the end of the Referendum.
Two images by Tom Leonard on the end of the Scottish referendum. 4th. September 2014. PDF and other downloads.