Summary: Omnesia is a very modern condition, whereby our ability to store unprecedented amounts of information is combined with ever-shortening memories and attention spans. Omnesia is also the name of not one but two new collections by W.N. Herbert, both published earlier this year by Bloodaxe Books. During the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Herbert stopped off at the Scottish Poetry Library to explain his concept of omnesia and to read poems from his latest collections. He also talks about being a bad traveller, education minister Michael Gove’s take on poetry, and why Robert Burns is an omnesiac. Image by David Williams
