Scottish writer and critic, best known for his poems evoking working-class British life.

Dunn left school at 17 to become a junior library assistant. He worked at libraries in Britain and the United States before completing his higher education at the University of Hull, England. In 1971 he left his job as an assistant librarian at the university to pursue his writing.

Dunn's first book of poetry, Terry Street (1969), was widely hailed for its evocation of working-class Hull. Critics praised Dunn's dry humour and his ability to capture the sordid with precision, free of sentimentality. Backwaters and Night (both 1971), The Happier Life (1972), and Love or Nothing (1974) were not as well received. Barbarians (1979) is a highly political volume that attacks the sovereignty of the propertied class and Oxbridge intellectuals while arguing for the robustness of “barbarian” working-class culture. Although most critics generally admired the work, they had greater praise for St. Kilda's Parliament (1981), noting Dunn's mastery of blank verse and his treatment of Scottish themes. Europa's Lover (1982) is a long poem celebrating the best of European values.

Dunn's highly praised Elegies (1985) contains moving, unflinching poems on the death of his first wife in 1981. Northlight (1988) marks Dunn's return to social subjects. In addition to several television and radio plays, including Scotsmen by Moonlight (1977), Dunn also published two collections of short stories—Secret Villages (1985) and Boyfriends and Girlfriends (1995)—and edited a number of poetry anthologies.