This is the website of Edinburgh-based poet and translator Ken Cockburn.

Latest News (April 2026)

I’m offering poetry walks as part of the Edinburgh Fringe 2026. I’ve scheduled 10 walks between 7th and 26th August, starting and ending at the Scottish Poetry Library. Full details including how to book can be found on the Fringe website here.

I became a co-editor of Presence Haiku Journal last year. The third issue I’ve had a hand in (#84) will be sent out to subscribers next week, and the submission window for the next issue (#85) will be open during May. More details on the Presence website here.

Recent News

I’ve a poem included in the anthology My Ear is Full of Milk: an anthology of writing for Laurel & Hardy, which came out from Broken Sleep at the end of January. Details on the Broken Sleep website.

The first poetry walk of 2026 wasn’t in Edinburgh, but across the Firth of Forth in St Andrews. Waves as Blue as Air: A Coastal Poetry Walk was part of the StAnza poetry festival, and took place on Saturday 14th March. Happily the weather was kind!

“… repeatedly in Cockburn’s poetry you get the impression of a poet who has sown nothing but good will in his craft and is slowly reaping this in his work.”
Richie McCaffrey, on Floating the Woods

“Every so often I come across a book of poems that is irresistible for the absolute ‘rightness’ of its project; a book that has that unerring quality of integrity, craft and communication with the reader; a book that’s doing something slightly out of the ordinary, but wearing that difference in an unostentatious manner. This was that book for me. A delight.” Andy Brown, on The Road North

“From the outset, I find the poems, their ingredients and flavour, and your meticulous joy with words, a delight.”
Stewart Conn, on On the flyleaf

“It is refreshing to read contemporary poetry of such rare grace and compassion… a welcome contribution to the literature of our nomadic century.” Tom Hubbard, on Souvenirs and Homelands