Concerning the Atlas of Scotland

The acclaimed Scottish author’s poetry collection explores life’s disorienting journeys, illustrated with maps from the National Library of Scotland.

Tom Pow spent six months as writer in residence at the National Library of Scotland Map Library in Edinburgh, Scotland. The library’s historic maps and cartographic artifacts became touchstones for a series of poems exploring memory, place, and the distances we experience between each other.

Published by Polygon in collaboration with the National Library, this unique volume is illustrated with details from the library’s collection. It is a beautiful and haunting book that invites readers to get lost in its pages.