John Pick

{{about||the member of the South Australian House of Assembly|John Pick (politician)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}

John Barclay Pick (26 December 1921 – 25 January 2015),{{Cite web |title=Obituary: John Barclay Pick, writer |url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/obituaries/obituary-john-barclay-pick-writer-1513806 |access-date=2022-03-25 |website=www.scotsman.com |language=en}} often credited as J.B. Pick, was an English poet, novelist, and biographer. He was a Quaker and a conscientious objector during the Second World War, serving in the Friends' Ambulance Unit and then as a coalminer.{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/11509419/John-Pick-man-of-letters-obituary.html|title = John Pick, man of letters - obituary}}

Pick was born in Leicester. He was married to Gene Pick (died 2019) with two children, both sons (Peter Pick and David Pick).{{Cite web|url=https://funeral-notices.co.uk/Scotland-Dumfries+and+Galloway-Dumfries+and+Galloway/death-notices/notice/pick/4713437|title = Click here to view the tribute page for Gene PICK}} Pick received his education at Sidcot School, a Quaker institution in Somerset. He attended Cambridge University for a year but left at the outbreak of Second World War to join the Friends' Ambulance Unit. He moved to Wester Ross in Scotland in 1946, where he took up writing full time. In 1958, he returned to Leicester and worked in industry for some years. In the 1980s he moved to live in Balmaclellan in Galloway.Pick, The Last Valley, jacket.Murray Ewing, violetapple.org.uk The Violet Apple: The Life and Works of David Lindsay (2009)Pick, J.B. (1993), The Great Shadow House, biographical note, Polygon, Edinburgh, {{isbn|9780748661169}}

Pick was the author of the novels Out of the Pit, The Lonely Aren't Alone, Under the Crust and A Land Fit for Eros, the last co-authored with John Atkins. He also wrote a number of short stories, articles, poetry, and nonfiction works. The Last Valley (originally published in the UK in 1959 as The Fat ValleyPick, The Last Valley, Sphere paperback, 1970, publishing history. The original publisher was Arco Publications) was his first book to be published in the United States. It was later made into a film starring Omar Sharif and Michael Caine.Pick, The Last Valley, Sphere paperback, 1970, front cover. In 1976, he edited the manuscript text of David Lindsay's novel The Witch for publication.Herdman, John, "The Witch: David Lindsay's Quest for the Absolute", in Brown, Rhona, & Lyall, Scott (eds.), Scottish Literary Review, Autumn/Winter 2024, Association for Scottish Literature, Glasgow, pp, 47 - 64, {{issn|1756-5634}}