William Auld (original) (raw)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scottish poet and translator (1924–2006)

For South Australian vigneron and wine merchant, see W. P. Auld.

William Auld
Writers in Antwerp in 1982. From left: Georges Lagrange, Tibor Sekelj, Aldo de 'Giorgi, William Auld and publisher Brucjo Casini.Writers in Antwerp in 1982. From left: Georges Lagrange, Tibor Sekelj, Aldo de 'Giorgi, William Auld and publisher Brucjo Casini.
Born 6 November 1924Erith, England
Died 11 September 2006(2006-09-11) (aged 81)Dollar, Scotland
Occupation Poet, writer, translator, esperantist, essayist, musician, editor
Language Esperanto, English

William Auld (6 November 1924 – 11 September 2006) was a British poet, author, translator and magazine editor who wrote chiefly in Esperanto.

Auld's grave in Dollair churchyard

Auld was born at Erith in Kent, and then moved to Glasgow with his parents, attending Allan Glen's School. After wartime service as a spitfire pilot in the Royal Air Force, he studied English literature at Glasgow University, and then qualified as a teacher.[1]

In 1952 he married his childhood sweetheart Margaret (Meta) Barr Stewart, also an Esperantist, and had two children. In 1960, he was appointed to a secondary school in Alloa and he remained there for the rest of his life. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1999, 2004, and 2006, making him the first person nominated for works in Esperanto.[2]

His masterpiece, La infana raso (The Infant Race), is a long poem that, in Auld's words, explores "the role of the human race in time and in the cosmos," and is partly based on The Cantos by Ezra Pound.[3]

Auld began to learn Esperanto in 1937 but only became active in the propagation of the language in 1947, and from then on wrote many works in Esperanto. He edited various magazines and reviews, including Esperanto en Skotlando (1949–1955), Esperanto (1955–1958, 1961–1962), Monda Kulturo (1962–1963), Norda Prismo (1968–1972), La Brita Esperantisto (1973–1999) and Fonto (1980–1987).[4]

He was Vice President of the Universal Esperanto Association (1977–1980), President of the Academy of Esperanto (1979–1983), and President of the Esperanto PEN Centre (1999–2005). He donated his personal collection of nearly 5,000 books in and about Esperanto to the National Library of Scotland, where it is now housed,[5] in 2001.[_citation needed_]

He died in Dolair/Dollar, Clackmannanshire, and is buried in Dollar churchyard. The grave lies on the approach path to the church from the main road.[_citation needed_]

Translations from English

[edit]

Bibliografio de tradukoj el la angla lingvo (with E. Grimley Evans, 1996)

Miscellaneous literature

[edit]

Pajleroj kaj stoploj: elektitaj prozaĵoj (1997)

  1. ^ Obituary Archived 10 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Scotsman; accessed 4 December 2016.
  2. ^ "William Auld". Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Limited. 22 September 2006. Retrieved 22 April 2010.
  3. ^ (en) Paul Gubbins, William Auld, The Guardian, 19. Sept. 2006
  4. ^ William Auld, Transparent Language, 30. April 2009
  5. ^ "Esperanto". National Library of Scotland. Archived from the original on 3 October 2022. Retrieved 10 July 2021.

Wikisource logo

Esperanto Wikisource has original text related to this article: