• The group's official Parliament webpage is here.
• The education sub-group's website is here.

• The date has not been set for next meeting of the CPG.
• The last meeting of the CPG was on 12 January.

• Rob Gibson
• Cathy Peattie
• Alex Johnstone
• Hugh O'Donnell
• Aileen Campbell
• Dave Thompson
• Alasdair Allan
• Bill Wilson

• Valentina Bold
• Graham Caie
• Fiona Campbell
• Aimee Chalmers
• Ronnie Crammond
• Hilary Crockett
• Colin Donatti
• Marina Dossena
• Sheila Douglas
• Andy Eagle
• Gavin Falconer
• Matthew Fitt
• Myles Fitt
• Sandy Fleming
• Susan Forde
• Michael Hance
• Lisbeth Harrison
• Richard Heinsar
• Dr Dauvit Horsbroch
• Billy Kay
• A Keay
• John Kirk
• Annot Lightheart
• Margaret Mackay
• Mary McCabe
• J Derrick McClure
• Catrina McGillivray
• Stuart McHardy
• Michael Montgomery
• Jan Natanson
• Nancy Nicolson
• Liz Niven
• Janet Paisley
• Andrew Philip
• David Purves
• Anne Rayner
• Catriona Scott
• Laura Fiore Scott
• Maggie Scott
• David Stevenson
• Moira Stratton
• Jack Stuart
• JM Tait
• Sheena Wellington
• Colin Wilson
• David Wilson
• Rab Wilson
• W Wolfe
• Louise Yeoman

• Scots Language Centre (Michael Hance)
• Scottish Language Dictionaries (Pauline Cairns, Marace Dareau, Maggie Scott and Chris Robinson)
• Association of Scottish Library Studies (John Corbett)
• Scots Tung (Bob Fairnie)
• Chapman (Joyce Hendry)
• CILT, University of Stirling (Richard Johnstone)
• Scottish Arts Council (Michelle Jordan and Gavin Wallace)
• Scots Language Society (Chris Robinson)
• Luath Press (Gavin MacDougall)

• Convener: Rob Gibson MSP
• Vice-Convener: Cathy Peattie MSP
• Secretary: Scots Language Centre
• Treasurer: Joy Hendry (Chapman Publications)

• Read the report.
• Find out more about the working group.

S3M-5805# Bill Kidd: Scottish Academy of Literature—That the Parliament notes the publication of the report of the Literature Working Group, which proposes the creation of a Scottish academy of literature to foster and expand the literary culture of Scotland, shining a light on both authors of the past and those yet to come; welcomes the group’s other recommendations such as the establishment of a Gaelic literary magazine, encouraging publishers to publish works in Scots and the setting up of a government body to report on public libraries; agrees with the group that the creation of a Scottish academy of literature is long overdue given that Scotland is the birthplace of UNESCO’s first city of literature and that the Royal Scottish Academy was formed in 1826 and the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1723, and believes that, coupled with other initiatives that celebrate literature, such as the Edinburgh International Book Festival and Glasgow’s Aye Write festival in March 2010, these recommendations can be successful in ensuring a bright future for Scottish literature.

S3W-31895 Bill Kidd: To ask the Scottish Executive how it will respond to the Literature Working Group’s recommendations for the establishment of a (a) Scottish academy of literature, (b) Gaelic literary magazine, (c) government body to report on public libraries, (d) compulsory question at higher grade on Scottish literature and (e) separate publishing house for literature in Scots.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (Friday, March 05, 2010): The Literature Working Group was tasked with recommending a new approach to public sector support for literature, focussing particularly on writing and publishing. The independent group''s report was published on 12 February 2010. I have written to the Chief Executives of organisations mentioned in the report to garner their opinions on the recommendations that affect their organisations. The practicality and feasibility of all recommendations made in the report will be further investigated before I respond fully, on behalf of the Scottish Government, later this year. A copy of the Literature Working Group''s report is available at the Parliament''s reference centre (Bib. number 50373) and has also been published online at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/02/17145942/0.

S3W-31896 Bill Kidd: To ask the Scottish Executive what the goals of the Literature Working Group are regarding the creation of a Scottish academy of literature.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (Friday, March 05, 2010): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31895 on 5 March 2010 All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

S3W-31897 Bill Kidd: To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Literature Working Group plans to include playwrights in the Scottish academy of literature.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (Friday, March 05, 2010): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31895 on 5 March 2010 All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

S3W-31898 Bill Kidd: To ask the Scottish Executive what the proposed timeframe is for the creation of a Scottish academy of literature and what further steps the Literature Working Group plans to take regarding its implementation.

Answered by Fiona Hyslop (Friday, March 05, 2010): I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-31895 on 5 March 2010 All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

There have been no discussions yet.

Our first writer is Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) who is known the world over as the influential 19^th century anti-slavery campaigner. Stowe was born in Connecticut, USA, and wrote a novel entitled ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ which was published in 1852. This novel, depicting the evils of slavery in America, caused an uproar in the southern states and led to campaigning in the USA, Britain, and elsewhere. As a result of this work, Stowe was invited to various countries by her admirers. It is not a well known fact, but Stowe visited Scotland, among other places, in 1853, and she wrote an account of her visit, published in 1854 as ‘Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands.’ Stowe, being highly literate, was familiar with the works of Robert Burns and Walter Scott and, probably because of these, had quite a romantic view of Scotland. She frequently quoted sentences and phrases she heard spoken in Scotland and made some valuable comments about the language in passing. For example, when she and a friend were strolling down by Kelvingrove, in Glasgow, she noted the following:

 “We saw a great many children of the poor out playing – rosy, fine little urchins, worth, any one of them, a dozen, bleached, hothouse flowers. We stopped to hear them talk, and it was amusing to hear the Scotch of Sir Walter Scott and Burns shouted out with such a right good will. We were as much struck by it as an honest Yankee was in Paris by the proficiency of the children in speaking French.”

Stowe, who was used only to reading Scots through Burns and Scott, and who assumed it to be essentially a literary language, was struck by the fact that the same language these writers employed was spoken as an everyday, native tongue by working class children in Glasgow. She also noted that when she went to Dryburgh, in the Borders, she met a family whose father read ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ to the children and who told her “…whiles they were greetin’ and whiles in a rage…” (sometimes crying and sometimes very angry). She also met a boatman, at the same place, and “…I fell into conversation with my host, He and his family, I noticed, spoke English more than Scotch..” These asides show that spoken Scots was generally still in a healthy state, that literate Scots speakers read English, and that some people mixed the two together.

Perhaps the most interesting document, from a language point of view, is the letter Stowe received from ‘an old Scotch bachelor’ dated at Stonehaven, in Kincardine, 21 April 1853. Stowe had been visiting Aberdeen and the author as at pains to expose hypocrisy in Scotland in regard to the condition of the ordinary people. It was written in a mix of Scots and English, of which the following is an extract:

 “I wad like to see ye mysel, but I canna win for want o' siller, and as I thought ye might be writin a buke about the Scotch when ye get hame, I hae just sent ye this bit auld key to Sawney's Cabin. Well, then, dinna forget to speer at the Aberdeenians if it be true they ance kidnappet little laddies, and selt them for slaves; that they dang down the Quaker's kirkyard dyke, and houket up dead Quakers out o' their graves; that the young boys at the college printed a buke, and maist naebody wad buy it, and they cam out to Ury, near Stonehaven, and took twelve (tots frae Davie Barclay to pay the printer). Dinna forget to speer at, if it was true that he flogget three laddies in the beginning o' last year, for the three following crimes: first, for the crime of being born of puir, ignorant parents; second, for the crime of being left in ignorance; and, third, for the crime of having nothing to eat. Dinna be telling when ye gang hame that ye rode on the Aberdeen railway, made by a hundred men, who were all in the Stonehaven prison for drunkenness; nor above five could sign their names.”

The author was evidently annoyed that the authorities in Scotland feted Stowe for her anti-slavery campaign while treating the lower classes in the fashion he described. But the text gives a fair example of the kind of Scots that was being written in this period and which was beginning to appear in Scottish newspaper columns too, often written in a far more consistent fashion.

During her entire visit Stowe was clearly pleasantly surprised to find that the language of the literary works she had read previously read was so widely spoken as the daily vernacular. However, on the other hand, she was disappointed when it came to collecting ballads and other works because she commented:

 “…that the Scotch ballads and memories, which so interested me, seemed to have very little interest for people generally in Scotland.”

Nonetheless, Stowe’s account, when taken alongside other similar writings, sheds interesting light on the Scots language of the mid-19^th century. If you would like to read the entire text of this work please check out www.archive.org

Oh love's a bitter thing to bide

Love is like a dizziness

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