The Nightfisherman

William Sydney Graham (1918-1986) was born in Greenock, Scotland, 'beside the sugar house quays' - a setting open to the sea. He remained a Celt, moving from Scotland to Cornwall where he found seascapes without urban clutter, just an occasional ruined tin-mine with its human echo. In the 1950s and 1960s he became a key member of the artistic scene in St Ives. A friend of T.S. Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Edwin Morgan, Roger Hilton, Peter Lanyon and many others, he could be demanding, but he gave back generously. A great poet, he is also a wholly original letter-writer, who can be traced from his twenties to his final years (1938-1985) through snow-drifts of correspondence interspersed with poems, drawings and prints. He never set out to make his living from poetry - poetry made his life. Dedication and commitment to his craft produced an extraordinary body of work during a life lived wildly and to the full. These letters (interspersed with poems, drawings and prints) are a testament to the close intellectual and spiritual bonds which nourished his writing over many years.