Born in Glasgow and raised on the West Coast of Scotland, White was early educated in Ayrshire. He went on to study at the Universities of Glasgow, Munich and Paris. Receiving a First Class honours degree in French and German from the University of Glasgow. He received his Doctorate in Letters and Human Sciences in Paris.
White was an author of a considerable body of work comprising essay, narrative and poetry. Including several books on art: Hokusai, Van Gogh, Atlan and author of over a hundred artist books with artists from across the world. He has worked in Paris, the Ardèche and the Atlantic Pyrenees. White held the chair position of the Twentieth Poetics at the Sorbonne between 1983 to 1996. He also founded the International Institute of Geopolitics in 1989.
White lived on the North Coast of Brittany and travelled around the world extensively. His collected works are in process at Edinburgh University Press.
