ROBERT ALAN JAMIESON was born in Lerwick on Up Helly Aa, 1958 and grew up in the crofting community of Sandness. He attended the University of Edinburgh as a mature student and subsequently held the William Soutar Fellowship in Perth. He was a co-editor of Edinburgh Review , 1993-98, and writer in residence at the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde, 1998- 2001. Since then he has tutored creative writing at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of three novels, three collections of poetry and two plays, and has edited a number of anthologies. Through his occasional work with the organisation Literature Across Frontiers, his poetry in Shetlandic Scots has been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he has translated over twenty contemporary European poets into Shetlandic Scots. His novel Da Happie Laand was shortlisted for the Saltire Awards, while A Day at the Office is on the List's '100 Best Scottish Books of All Time'.