Ayont the Thistle: A gallimaufry of poetry and prose to mark the centenary (1926 - 2026) of Hugh MacDiarmid's 'A Drunk Man looks at the Thistle'

by Jim Mackintosh (Editor), Alan Riach (Editor), James Robertson (Editor)

Published in 1926 in an edition of just 500 copies, Hugh MacDiarmid’s A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle was a bold modernist experiment: a book-length poem addressing the human condition, written entirely in Scots.

Although not reissued for nearly three decades, it has since acquired the status of a key text of Scottish literature.

This anthology marks the centenary of what is often claimed as MacDiarmid’s masterpiece. Through essays, poems, reflections and other creative responses, more than 70 writers from around the world explore the poem’s language, structure and imagery, its power and its provocations.

What is the place of A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle in the twenty-first century? Who reads it, and does it still cause strong reactions? By turns admiring, sceptical, and sharply critical, these diverse contributions reveal a work that remains startlingly alive a hundred years after its first appearance.

371 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2026

About the author

Jim C. Mackintosh is a Scottish poet. His collections include Flipstones (Tippermuir Books, 2018) and We are Migrant (Seahorse Publishing, 2024). His multimedia collaborations include Beyond the Swelkie with Duncan Chisholm and Hamish Napier and The Banes o the Turas with Ali Hutton. His editorials/co-editorials include The Darg (Drunk Muse Press), Beyond the Swelkie (Tippermuir Books) and Ayont the Thistle (Tippermuir Books, 2026). His productions include The Elegies, The Banes o the Turas and In Search of the Lost Pines & Long Water Soft Shadows. His residences include St. Johnstone FC, The Hamden Collection, Cateran EcoMuseum, Bioregioning Tayside, and Makar of the Federation of Writers (Scotland). He was shortlisted for the Scottish Book of the Year in 2023 and named Scots Writer of the Year in 2024.