Archie Hind

Archie Hind (3 June 1928 - 21 February 2008), the author of "The Dear Green Place", was a Scottish writer.

"The Dear Green Place" was his only completed work (published in 1966), but it won four major awards and has been listed as one of the best 100 Scottish novels of all time [ [http://www.list.co.uk/articles/100-best-scottish-books/ 100 Best Scottish Books, "The List", January 2005] ] . The book was reprinted in March 2008 along with Hind's incomplete novel, "Fur Sadie".

Hind was brought up in the Carntyne district of Glasgow. His father was an alcoholic and wife beater. The young Archie often had to avoid the public baths because of his bruises. His father's pressure for money forced him to leave school and take on menial jobs. He was called up to serve in the medical corps in Singapore and Ceylon at the end of the World War II. After he was “demobbed” he was determined to become a writer. His big break came when he was accepted in 1950-51 to study a creative course at Newbattle Abbey College, Midlothian, where the principal, Orcadian poet Edwin Muir, reportedly became his mentor and helped inspire him.

The success of "The Dear Green Place", a reference to his birthplace and hometown of Glasgow, turned Hind from a trolleybus driver/former slaughterhouse worker into a successful and notable writer. He won 1966’s Guardian Prize for First Novel. Hind went on to publish journalistic articles and wrote several plays and theatrical revues, notably for Glasgow's Citizen's Theatre.

He had been due to appear on 7 March 2008 with famous writers from around the world at the Aye Write! literary festival in Glasgow's Mitchell Library to mark the reprinting of ‘’The Dear Green Place’’, along with the "Fur Sadie" manuscript and examples of his writing. However he died from cancer, aged 79, on 21 February. The organizers held a memorial service on 8 March 2008.

The unfinished manuscript of "Fur Sadie" was thought to have been lost or destroyed, but it was pieced together by Alasdair Gray and journalist/literary agent John Linklater, and was published along with "The Dear Green Place" on 15 March 2008 by Polygon, an imprint of Birlinn Publishing.

Fur Sadie

Originally titled "Für Sadie", because Hind was influenced by Beethoven's piece Für Elise, but the umlaut was later dropped to reflect Glasgow dialect, the story tells of Sadie, a housewife in the Parkhead district of Glasgow who rediscovers her childhood love for the piano as a means of escaping her middle-aged misery.

Family

Archie Hind is survived by his wife of 56 years, Eleanor (née Slane), sons Calum and Martin, and daughters Sheila and Helen. A third son, Gavin, died in a road accident as a youth.

ources

* Linklater, John., "Scottish Review of Books" (Volume 4, No. 1), 2008

References

* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,2260922,00.html Obituary: Archie Hind] (Jackie Kemp, "Guardian", Friday 29 February 2008)