Hailed by some as the most important Scottish poet since Burns, Hamish Henderson lived an epic life against the backdrop of some of the defining social, political and cultural battles - both national and international - of the twentieth century. A soldier, academic, folklorist, political activist, songwriter, translator and poet, he was a seminal figure in the Scottish folk revival and literary renaissance. His humanist legacy lives on in all of these spheres, but it is perhaps through his poetry that we may experience, most keenly, the 'method in his magic.' In every verse and lyric we catch glimpses of a brilliant, complex and highly original mind, whilst also developing a fuller understanding of Henderson's lifelong mission to 'make poetry become people.' Published to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Hamish Henderson, this collected poems is the first since the poet's death and makes available, for the first time, new material from the archive. The book opens with Freedom Becomes People, first published in Chapman 42, and reproduces, in full, his Ballads of World War II and Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica. This volume pushes at the boundaries between high modernist poetics and popular folk song; between the profound and profane; between works of individual and collective endeavour and between the poet and his purpose.

This publication commemorates the 1951 Edinburgh People's Festival Ceilidh and collects views and perspectives on the way the Folk Revival has evolved over the past sixty years. 'Tis Sixty Years Since: The 1951 Edinburgh People's Festival Ceilidh and the Scottish Folk Revival -Sixty years ago, in 1951, the first Edinburgh People's Festival Ceilidh at Oddfellows' Hall kick-started the modern Scottish Folk Revival. It was presided over by Hamish Henderson and recorded by Alan Lomax. Sixty years ago, the School of Scottish Studies was founded at the University of Edinburgh. The 10th Carrying Stream Festival in November 2011, organised by Edinburgh Folk Club in cooperation with the School of Scottish Studies and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, celebrated these anniversaries.