Alistair Findlay's compilation of poems about social work shows the reader that the world they are living in is often shaped by poverty. Not much has been written about the stories that fill social worker's lives, and Findlay offers sad, sometimes absurd, insights. He creates poems for everyone who wants to know what goes on behind closed doors.
One of five sons of a shale miner, Alistair Findlay was born in Winchburgh, West Lothian, in 1949. A former local journalist and then editor of the West Lothian courier, he is also the author of Shale Voices, a social-cultural history of the shale oil communities of West Lothian. He has a BA (Hons) in Literature and Social History (Open University), an MA in Applied Social Studies (Bradford University), a Certificate (with distinction) in Scottish Cultural Studies (Edinburgh University), and an M Phil (with distinction) in Modern Poetry (Stirling University). Having had a diverse employment history, from clay miner to golden wonder lorry-loader, he now lives in Bathgate and works as a Senior Social Worker for West Lothian Council.