Interview - Billy Collins (2014)
He’s twice been poet laureate in the US and says he hopes his poems ‘begin in Kansas and end in Oz’. Now Billy Collins returns with Aimless Love, his first collection of new and selected poems for 12 years. Elegant, poignant and thrillingly accessible, Collins’ book includes more than 50 new poems and selections from 4 favourite collections. They are deeply inspiring – and Collins performs them with great élan. We caught up with him just before he went on stage at 2014 Edinburgh International Book Festival for a quick interview.
Loading the player... if your browser supports audio and video it
should appear in a few moments.
Book Festival News
Our response to today's statement from Fossil Free BooksWednesday 15 May
Watch more
Steve Brusatte & Thomas Halliday: The Paleo-Adventurers
Kathleen Jamie, Peter Mackay & Don Paterson: Heavenly Scottish Poetry
Julian Aguon & Nina Mingya Powles: Making Environmental Politics Personal
James Kelman (2016 Event)
Olga Ravn & Martin Aitken with Heather Parry
Stories and Scran
Markus Zusak speaks to Janet Ellis at the Edinburgh International Book Festival
William Dalrymple with Fergal Keane: Rapacity and Excess in Imperial India
Tsitsi Dangarembga & Esi Edugyan: The Past, Present and Future of Blackness
Mark Haddon talks to Charlotte Higgins at the Edinburgh International Book Festival