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William Collins has acquired the biography of Hugh MacDiarmid, the "most contentious and politically influential poet of the 20th century".
With new First Minister of Scotland Humza Yousaf now in post, William Collins publishing director Arabella Pike has secured UK and Commonwealth rights (exclusive Europe, excluding Canada) to Antagonist: The Life Behind Hugh MacDiarmid from Caroline Dawnay at United Agents.
The book will be published in hardback, e-book and audio after the Scottish elections of 2026, as the future direction of the independence movement takes shape. It tells the story of how a Scottish poet turned himself into a national myth and came to inspire Alex Salmond and his protégé Nicola Sturgeon in "their revolutionary ambition to break up the British state".
The publisher added: "Antagonist tells the story of how an eccentric outsider, Christopher Murray Grieve, invented an alias in order to become the ultimate contrarian. Itself the life’s work of author Alexander Linklater, the life behind Hugh MacDiarmid requires a rethinking of biographical form to unravel a mystery of personality and national identity."
Pike commented: "MacDiarmid is the last, great untold story of western poetry, as problematic as Ezra Pound, but producing poetry unlike anything else in the 20th century. This will be a landmark book and I’m delighted to be publishing."
Linklater has been a journalist, editor for the Swedish Ax:son Johnson foundation, and presenter of the Scottish Book of the Year Awards for Scottish Television. He was founder of the BBC National Short Story Award. On his biographical debut, he said: "No-one living with the cultural and political legacies of 20th century Scotland can escape the influence of MacDiarmid or the effect of his astounding poetry, yet, as a person, he remains peculiarly little understood.
"William Collins, with its Scottish Enlightenment origins, provides the chance to bring an outlying life and a rebarbative poetic genius to a mainstream audience."