William J. Tait

WILLIAM JOHN TAIT was born on the Shetland isle of Yell in 1918. A stellar school performance in Lerwick led to his enrolment at Edinburgh University to study English. After graduation he pursued a lifelong career in teaching, with spells back in Shetland, in and around London, the Midlands and Dundee. His poetry first appeared in the Spectator in 1945, and thereafter regularly featured in anthologies and journals, garnering increasing acclaim. His collected poems were published in 1980. He died on Yell, having returned to live in the family home, in 1992 at the age of 73.