The poet and short story writer Douglas Eaglesham Dunn was born in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, on 23 October 1942. He studied at the University of Hull where he obtained a BA, and studied librarianship at Glasgow University. He worked as a colleague of Philip Larkin at the Brynmor Jones Library at the University of Hull, and he became a full-time writer in 1971. His early work includes Terry Street (1969), The happier life (1972), Love or nothing (1974), and Barbarians (1979). In 1981 he returned to Scotland from Hull. That same year he published St Kilda's Parliament and other work in the 1980s includes Elegies (1985), Secret villages (1985) and Northlight (1988). In 1991, Dunn was appointed Professor of English Language and Literature at St. Andrews University. Other work includes verse translation of Racine's Andromache (1990), Dante's drum-kit (1993), Boyfriends and girlfriends (1994) and The year's afternoon (2000).
From the guide to the Correspondence and Lectures of Professor Douglas Eaglesham Dunn (b. 1942), 1987-1991, (Edinburgh University Library)