Photograph of Alexander Trocchi at the 1962 International Writers Conference by (Trocchi, Alexander) Keen, Peter - 1990

[Edinburgh, 1990. Landscape-format monochrome photographic portrait, signed ("Peter Keen") on the lower right margin, dry mounted. 405 x 305 mm. Fine. Landscape-format monochrome photographic portrait, signed ("Peter Keen") on the lower right margin, dry mounted. 405 x 305 mm. Candid portrait photograph of Alexander Trocchi in profile, taken at the 1962 International Writers' Conference held at McEwan Hall, Edinburgh. The conference - which was on the subject of "The Novel Today" - was organized by the publisher John Calder and featured seventy writers from twenty countries. The conference gained some notoriety from the argument between Alexander Trocchi and Hugh MacDiarmid, the latter calling the former "cosmopolitan scum." Henry Miller and William Burroughs sided with Trocchi, who replied, "I am only interested in lesbianism and sodomy."

The photographer, Peter Keen (1928-2009), was commissioned to record the event for THE SUNDAY TIMES. His other notable work includes portraiture - some in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery - and the photographic illustrations to Ted Hughes's RIVER (London, 1983).