Portrait of Robin Jenkins by Jennifer McRae in the collection of National Portrait Gallery Edinburgh

Portrait of Robin Jenkins by Jennifer McRae in the collection of National Portrait Gallery Edinburgh.

Jennifer McRae on The Award

"It is a lovely way of celebrating not only today's Scottish writers but also of celebrating Robin himself, whose work is wonderful. I enjoyed painting his portrait very much and got quite addicted to his books through researching him prior to painting the picture."

Photo of cone sculpture based the theme of Jenkins' novel The Cone Gatherers under Douglas Firs in Benmore Botanic Garden, Cowal

Sculpture based the theme of Jenkins' novel The Cone Gatherers under Douglas Firs in Benmore Botanic Garden, Cowal.

Photo of Scots Pine on the shore of Lock Eck with commercial forest on opposite shore

Scots Pine on the shore of Lock Eck with commercial forest on opposite shore.

Robin Jenkins Biography

1912 –2005

John Robin Jenkins was born in Flemington, Lanarkshire in September 1912. His father died when Jenkins was just 7 and his mother worked as a cook to support her four children. He won a bursary to Hamilton Academy then went on to study for an MA in English at Glasgow University, graduating in 1936.

He married the following year and in Glasgow began a teaching career that was later to take him around the world. On the outbreak of war he registered himself as a conscientious objector and was sent to work with the Forestry Commission as part of his war service. His forestry experience in Argyll between 1940 and 1946 is reflected in So Gaily Sings the Lark, his first novel, and in what is probably the novel for which he is most remembered The Cone Gatherers. He went to Afghanistan for three years, teaching in Kabul, followed by spells in Barcelona and Sabah.

Jenkins returned to Scotland in 1968 to teach at Dunoon Grammar and settled in Toward. Finally giving up teaching to become a full time author, he spent the last 32 years of his life at his home on the Cowal Peninsula. He was awarded an OBE in 1999 and received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Saltire Society in 2003.

Books

  • So Gaily Sings the Lark (1950)
  • Happy for the Child (1953)
  • The Thistle and the Grail (1954)
  • The Cone Gatherers (1955)
  • Guests of War (1956)
  • The Missionaries (1957)
  • The Changeling (1958)
  • Love Is a Fervent Fire (1959)
  • Dust on the Paw (1961)
  • The Tiger of Gold (1962)
  • A love of innocence (1963)
  • The Sardana Dancers (1964)
  • A Very Scotch Affair (1968)
  • Holy Tree (1969)
  • Exploitation (1970)
  • Toast to the Lord (1972)
  • Far Cry from Bowmore (1973)
  • Figure of Fun (1974)
  • A Would-be Saint (1978)
  • Road to Alto (1979)
  • Fergus Lamont (1979)
  • Third World Atlas (1984)
  • The Awakening of George Darroch (1985)
  • Just Duffy (1988)
  • Poverty Castle (1991)
  • Willie Hogg (1993)
  • Leila (1995)
  • Lunderston Tales (1996)
  • Matthew and Sheila (1998)
  • Poor Angus (2000)
  • Childish Things (2001)
  • Lady Magdalen (2003)
  • Some Kind of Grace (2004)
  • The Pearl-fishers (2007)

Articles

  • Robin Jenkins and the March of Time - a chronicler of changing Scotland. The first Robin Jenkins Memorial lecture by author, journalist and politician, Michael Russell given during Cowalfest 2005 at Toward Village Hall Monday 10th October
  • Robin Jenkins' Fiction, by Isobel Murray (PDF, 77KB)

Copies of Michael Russell's lecture can be ordered online at the Cowalfest website.
ISBN 978-0-9553312-0-6 24pp £2.99 + P&P £1.00 UK and £2.00 international