Scots Language Center

John C L Gibson

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:18:00 +0000 GMT

John C L Gibson's plan to translate the Old Testament into Scots was hampered by age and infirmity. In this obituary in the Scotsman, Graeme Auld describes Gibson's life long interest in language.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.co

Gaun Yersel, Scottish Government!

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 04:10:00 +0000 GMT

Scots is making inroads into the world of official strategies. Two Scottish Government documents published this autumn have Scots words or phrases in their titles. "These Are Our Bairns", the Government's guidance to councils and their community planning partners on being good "corporate parents", came out in September. In addition, the self-management strategy for long-term conditions that was published in October is called "Gaun Yersel!" -- a fitting title and a fine one too.

You can find "These Are Our Bairns" at http://tinyurl.com/5puvma

You can find out more about "Gaun Yersel!" at http://tinyurl.com/5l7y9g

Older Scots for Christmas

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:47:00 +0000 GMT

Looking for an academic book on Scots for that Christmas gift? Why not try 'Older Scots Literature'? First published in 2005 by John Donald, this collection of essays brings together the work of several scholars in the field of Older Scots writers in the period 1400-1700. Divided into three parts the book looks at Scots language writers such as Henryson, Dunbar and Montgomerie, and also ballads, letters and verse writing. There is both new research and old from scholars such as P Bawcutt, RJ Lyall and AA MacDonald. The book is edited by Sally Mapstone and is 641 pages priced £30. It is available from www.booksfromscotland.com

Changes on the way at Scots Language Centre

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:16:00 +0000 GMT

The Scots Language Centre will be going through another period of change over the next few months. There will be a new layout on the home page and navigating the site will be easier than ever.

Centre Director, Michael Hance, gave details of the changes as figures show a steadily increasing number of visitors to the site. Hance said, “We have a target of 50,000 visitors a year to reach by 2009. At present we receive around 4000 visits a month so we’re well on our way to achieving our goal next year.”

In recent days the Centre has unveiled a new feature that will give visitors the chance to listen throughout the year to readings from the Scots New Testament. The Centre will mark the most important Christian festivals with readings from the Scots New Testament CDs. The first of these is already online and celebrates the feast of All Saints Day on 1 November. The next series of readings will take place over the Advent and Christmas seasons and will begin on 30 November.

"Encourage children to speak Scots" says MSP

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 01:16:00 +0000 GMT

Rob Gibson MSP, convener of the Cross-Party Group on Scots, called on Scotland's schools to encourage children's use of Scots. Speaking in a debate on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, he said:

"we have to allow children to express their views in their own languages and dialects. If children speak Scots, we should encourage that, because it will build their self-esteem."

According to Mr Gibson, Scottish people have always been at the forefront of the debate about children's rights. To back up his argument, he quoted from Douglas Young's translation of Sorley MacLean's well-known poem "Calvary" and Hamish Henderson's "Freedom Come All Ye".

Read the hail speech here: http://tinyurl.com/5ec525

Conference Call

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 01:53:00 +0000 GMT

There will be a one-day conference entitled ‘Language and Literature in the time of Burns’ to be held in the AK Bell Library, Perth on Saturday 6 December 2008, beginning at 10am. Among the speakers will be J Derrick McClure ‘Allan Ramsay and the Scots Tongue’, Carol Baraniuk ‘Men of Independent Mind: Ulster Poets and the Scots Vernacular Tradition’ and Andrew Noble ‘Robert Burns and the Scottish Radical Poets of his Age’. Included in the conference will be the AGM of the Forum for Research in the Languages of Scotland and Ulster. There are still places to attend this conference, for which the fee is £25 (£20 students and unwaged) including lunch and refreshments, and anyone with an interest should contact J Derrick McClure on j.d.mcclure@abdn.ac.uk by Saturday 29 November.

MSP Writes on Wedding Row

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:53:00 +0000 GMT

Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland, has written to Linda Fabiani, the Scottish Government Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture, asking her to inform all Scotland’s registrars that they must conduct wedding ceremonies in Scots, if couples request it.

Dr Wilson’s letter to Ms Fabiani was in response to concerns expressed by Colin Wilson (no relation), the author of the “Luath Scots Language Learner”, who found the chief registrar of Aberdeen was reluctant to let him and his fianceé, Fiona Henderson, have their marriage ceremony conducted in Doric.

Read more at Dr Wilson’s own wabsite: http://tinyurl.com/6ph53r

SNP Conference Calls for "fair treatment" for Scots

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:46:00 +0000 GMT

On 16 October the SNP conference voted unanimously for a motion that calls on the Scottish Government to "guarantee fair treatment for Scotland’s unique cultural inheritance".

The motion welcomes the Government’s audit of Scots language provision and calls it "a key area very badly affected" by the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) decision to remove flexible funding from the Scots Language Centre (SLC) and Scottish Language Dictionaries (SLD). It also looks forward to proposals emerging from the audit to secure the language’s future.

Among other measures, the motion calls for "the endowment of a national company or agency". Speaking for the motion, Rob Gibson MSP said:

"The living and tradional arts in Scotland are part of the country's DNA. The music, language help define us to ourselves and the rest of the world. It is important that they and those that keep them going receive the highest backing from our Government and the agencies which look after the culture in the country.

"One way to enshrine the living tradition is to create a new body which will deal specifically with the Traditional Arts. The trad arts needs to be seen in isolation and treated as such. It is too important a part of Scotland not be given special attention. The culture minister and the rest of the Government are committed to trad arts. The audit of Scots will tell you that. But there need to be more time and attention devoted to it to make sure that it lives on."

Answering a parliamentary question from Hugh Henry on 30 October, culture minister Linda Fabiani welcomed the SAC’s decision to fund the SLC and SLD till October 2009 and said she was considering how she could best enshure that our traditional arts could be supported in the longer term.

Full text of the SNP conference motion:

"Conference considers that the Scottish Government cultural policy, funding and support arrangements should guarantee fair treatment for Scotland’s unique cultural inheritance.

"Conference regrets Scottish Arts Council decisions in 2008 to withdraw flexible funding from key organisations that have successfully promoted Scotland’s linguistic, musical and theatrical heritage.

"To address problems that have resulted from these decisions, Conference encourages supporters and practitioners of Scotland’s traditional arts and culture and the Scottish Government to work together to investigate options for future support for this important facet of national life.

"Conference considers that such investigations should include, but not be limited to: investigations into the benefits of direct funding of key organisations; the use of challenge funds; introducing statutory responsibilities for, or issuing guidance to local government; and the endowment of a national company or agency.

"In particular, Conference welcomes the initiative taken by the Scottish Government to undertake an audit of Scots language provision, a key area very badly affected by SAC decisions and looks forward to the emergence of proposals that will secure the future of the language.”

Linda Fabiani’s answer to Hugh Henry: http://tinyurl.com/5s7q4d

Obama wins

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:37:00 +0000 GMT

Scots cultural activist, Billy Kay, has reminded us about the diverse nature of the culture of the US South. In this extract from his book, the Scottish World, Kay reproduces a poem that has special signifcance in light of today's historic events.

From the chapter The Scotch South in Billy Kay’s book The Scottish World

"There, in the Cape Fear district in the baking flatlands of Scotland County, I also discovered that as recently as 1907 a book titled Lyrics from Cottonland by John Charles McNeill was published. Descended from Kintyre folk, McNeill's poetry reflects the voices of the black, Indian and white people of the area. He is regarded as the poet laureate of North Carolina. In ‘On the Cape Fear’ he condenses the history of the Argyll colony in a Scots voice which rings true:

Prince Charlie an I, we war chased owre the sea
Wi naething but conscience for glory.
An here I drew sawrd, when the land wad be free,
An was whipped tae a hole as a Tory.

When the Bonny Blue Flag was flung tae the breeze, I girded mysel tae defend it:
They warstled me doun tae my hands an my knees
An flogged my auld backbane tae bend it.

Sae the deil wan the fights, an wrang hauds the ground,
But God an mysel winna bide it.
I hae strenth in my airm yet for many a round
An purpose in plenty tae guide it.

I been banished an whipped an warstled an flogged (I belang tae the Democrat party)
But in gaein owre quagmires I haena been bogged
An am still on my legs, hale an hearty."

www.billykay.co.uk

Scots wedding row covered in Daily Record

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:45:00 +0000 GMT

The row about Colin Wilson and Fiona Henderson's request to have a Scots language civil wedding in Aberdeen is reported on in today's Daily Record.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/n

Scots Report from Holyrood

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:30:00 +0000 GMT

The following report appeared in Holyrood magazine. Thanks to Cera Murtagh and Holyrood for allowing us to reproduce it here.

For more information about Holyrood visit www.holyrood.com

The mither tongue

Cera Murtagh examines the changing role of Scotland’s minority languages in its education system

Few would question the dominant role of Scots in Scotland’s history and literary tradition. At the appropriate times of the year, the words of Burns are recited with great pride and patriotism. But when it comes to its role in the Scotland of today, the picture is less clear. While so keen to celebrate the language of our national bard, the place governments have accorded Scots in the here and now has not been so elevated. Despite an estimated 1.6 million speakers, Scots struggles to gain esteem and recognition as a minority language, leaving it lagging well behind its Gaelic cousin. Recent developments suggest times are changing. But are they changing fast enough?

When it comes to minority languages there are two major battlegrounds for recognition. One is presence in the media. The other is education. In Scotland the most widely spoken minority language has, historically, had a contentious relationship with the education system. For many years it has been handled with hostility in schools, treated not as a minority language in its own right but as an inferior, improper form of English with words like ‘aye’ and ‘ken’ provoking scorn from teachers.

This prickly relationship appears to be slowly changing, however. After much lobbying, the SNP Government has taken the step of including Scots in A Curriculum for Excellence, the new schools’ curriculum. Teachers are now being encouraged to “value their pupils’ home language” and introduce them to Scots texts. For many in the Scots-speaking community this is a welcome move, though long overdue.

So at a time when a lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills amongst school leavers is an issue, why is teaching students Scots so important? According to one of the leading lights in Scots language education, author and Scots specialist, Matthew Fitt, the answer is simple: “Confidence. Scottish children lack confidence, linguistic confidence and cultural confidence - they just don’t have it. About 30 per cent of the population speaks Scots and therefore about 30 per cent of the school population have Scots as their home language. Those children in particular, that speak Scots at home and outside school, they’re the ones that come into the classroom and are silent or disruptive because they have this disadvantage that they’re being taught in a way that excludes their own culture. And without fixing this, Scottish education is never really going to achieve the levels of confidence it would like to see in its young people.”

As Education & Outreach Officer with Itchy-Coo, the imprint for 31 Scots children’s books and author of a number of children’s titles in Scots, Fitt has spent the last six years visiting schools across the country to help pupils and teachers engage with the language.

With this work in mind and wary of discrimination towards Scots in schools, Dr Bill Wilson, SNP MSP for the West of Scotland decided to take action on the issue. Wilson wrote to all local education authorities (LEAs) asking them if there was discrimination towards Scots in their schools and what they were doing to promote the language. The MSP has revealed to Holyrood magazine that he has now produced a report on his findings which he intends to submit to the ongoing Scots Language Audit and share with the LEAs in the hope that it will highlight the issue of Scots in education and encourage joint working between authorities and schools to promote it.

“There was a study, ‘Language at Letham’ that monitored Scots language in a West Lothian primary school for a year some time ago, which indicated that teachers were showing inadvertent, subconscious discrimination against Scots-speaking pupils.
To be fair to the teachers, they were completely unaware of this and they were horrified when they found out that that’s what they were doing. And from that this occurred to me, because I’ve been an active Scots language campaigner for decades and I’ve yet to meet a Scots language speaker who was not at some point punished in school for using Scots. And the fact that there was still this, perhaps not open punishment, but this kind of subconscious discrimination was quite worrying to me and I was keen to do some kind of investigation into the issue,” he explains.

For Wilson, teaching Scots in schools is key to improving Scottish youngsters’ self-confidence – an issue highlighted in A Curriculum for Excellence with ‘confident individuals’ one of the four capacities. Advocates argue that learning another language is also proven to improve children’s language acquisition and deepen their understanding of linguistics.

Culturally, learning Scots is fundamental for Scottish children to understand who they are and where they come from, according to Director of the Scots Language Centre, Michael Hance: “In Scotland our culture is suffused with Scots. Our poetry, song and our heritage are all connected to it yet the language has been completely unrecognised in the education setting. An understanding of Scots language gives people a better understanding of themselves, more confidence in their culture and a stronger connection to the place they live.”

So considering this cultural and educational value, what is the Scottish Government doing to promote Scots? Those in the sector generally agree that the approach to Scots has greatly improved under the SNP with inclusion in the curriculum and an audit into the language under way. However, the funding to match the enthusiasm has been lacking. Fitt welcomes the increase in profile for Scots on the SNP’s watch. “However, the resourcing for Scots remains exactly the same, in fact, the resourcing has diminished slightly since the SNP Government has come into office,” he warns. Two of the major Scots agencies, the Scots Language Centre and Scottish Language Dictionaries currently facing financial uncertainty, were recently thrown a six-month lifeline after their core funding from the Scottish Arts Council was withdrawn.

In comparison to other minority languages both in Scotland and out with, despite the number of speakers, Scots appears to be the poor relation. “At a European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages conference I attended in Poland recently, it was stated that Scots is a sleeping giant amongst European minority languages because most of them are very small. But also it was suggested that Scots is a laughing stock because of the provision it’s given compared to languages like Welsh and Catalan,” Fitt says.

But closer to home, the disparity is more even obvious. When viewed alongside Gaelic, which has 60,000 speakers in comparison to the Scots community’s estimated 1.6 million, Billy Kay, Scots writer and broadcaster and author of Scots: The Mither Tongue believes, “there is an outrageous imbalance.” Gaelic has enjoyed a positive presence in the education system with a number of Gaelic schools and schools that provide Gaelic medium education. The language has also secured its own television channel with more than £10m a year from the Scottish Government – a far cry from the Scots experience.

“In a way the curse of Scots is that it’s so similar to English that some people don’t perceive it as being something importantly different, and some see it as some kind of corrupt form of English. Because of the historic role of the United Kingdom being a major super power in the nineteenth century and then the United States being the super power of the twentieth and twenty-first century, English has had such a role in the world that people in Britain are generally linguistically unaware… And that’s one of the major problems,” Kay says. Scots is more different to English than Portuguese is to Spanish or Catalan is to Castiliano, he argues but because of the dominant role of English in the UK, this is not lost on people.
Likewise Hance, of the Scots Language Centre points to the disparity with Ulster Scots: “The major challenge here is funding. To put this in context, we just need to look at how much money is spent on Ulster Scots. The Ulster Scots Agency receives £3m a year in funding and we get about 5 per cent of that. So there is a huge gap there that needs to be bridged.”
But with Scots named as a potentially endangered language by the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, it clearly can’t be taken for granted. Neasa Ni Chinneide, President of the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages, a body that promotes and funds minority languages in Europe, warns that so much of our culture is bound up in our words that if a people’s language is lost, they stand to lose a lot more: “The value of minority languages to people is that through them they retain memory, stories, lore, knowledge of people and place and nature… There is a wisdom in culture, even in our

“indigenous sayings and expressions”

. They were strategies used to cope with circumstances from economic to social problems, right across a range of things. And when you think about it, language is the most basic exposition of what lies within people’s minds. Nothing is closer to your brain than language. And when you consider it, even in the most simple terms like that, you realise it is not a small matter to lose languages.”

Minority languages clearly need support and nurturing to survive. The SNP Government has gone some way to recognising the value of Scots and educational initiatives are increasing this recognition. However, it is clear that resources are needed to make this progress meaningful and give the language a legitimate place in a modern Scotland.

MSP delighted by school survey

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:55:00 +0000 GMT

Dr Bill Wilson, MSP for the West of Scotland, was delighted recently by the results of his survey of Local Education Authorities and their approach to the Scots language. He was inspired by a project into attitudes towards introducing Scots into the curriculum of a primary school at Letham in West Lothian. Dr Wilson's survey was on the whole positive with teachers revealing that Scots in the classroom encouraged writing, improved literacy and motivation, and, above all, did wonders for the self-esteem of Scottish children. The use of Scots also helped to dispel misunderstandings about the language. Dr Wilson hopes that his report will be a useful contribution to the Scottish Government's current audit into the Scots language.

Autumn and winter programme revealed

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:24:00 +0000 GMT

Details of the Scots Language Centre’s online programme for the autumn and winter were revealed today.

Centre Director, Michael Hance, said that the autumn and winter programme would be the best ever. Beginning with a Halloween feature in mid-October the programme will include more audio and video material than ever before.

Hance said, “We have some very nice stories and videos for Halloween and Saint Andrew’s Day. Mary Blance from Shetland will be frightening people with her story of “da wife wi da bluid red hand”; we’ll have Gavin Sprott’s supernatural story of a lonely old woman in Angus and there will be videos, stories and poems to mark the start of the season when the nights draw in.”

“Saint Andrew’s Day will see us celebrating Scotland’s diverse culture with poems from Joyce Falconer and Robert Burns among others.”

Visitors should look out too for our exclusive interview with Colin Wilson and Fiona Henderson who were married in the summer in the country’s first Scots civil wedding ceremony in modern times.

NLS debate report

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:32:00 +0000 GMT

A debate about Scots held last month at the National Library of Scotland brought in an audience of over 100 people. Here David Purves gives his impression of the evening's events.

At the moment the report is only available in English.

This event was essentially a panel discussion, chaired by Michael Hance, Director of the Scots Language Centre in the A K Bell Library in Perth. This was founded in 1990 by the Scots Language Society (SLS) to provide information on Scots language and literature. The SLS was founded earlier in 1972 (Hon Preses, Christopher Murray Grieve), and the magazine LALLANS was launched in the following year under the editorship of J K Annand. Since LALLANS is the only literary magazine published exclusively in Scots, it has provided a valuable outlet for writers in Scots in poetry and prose from the last quarter of the twentieth century..
A general discussion followed short addresses by John Corbett, James McGonigal, Gillian Munro, David Purves and Rab Wilson. This event attracted a capacity audience and most of the enthusiasts for Scots language who have survived from the founding of the SLS in 1972 appeared to be present. Many, of course, have since gone to the Land o the Lael.

Issues which were discussed, were whether Scots matters and to what extent it is an important budge of national identity and could now be revived. Against the background of a Scottish Government ostensibly committed to cherishing Scotland’s linguistic heritage, Linda Fabiani, the Minister of Culture gave assurance of that commitment, although questions remain unanswered about the future funding of the Scots Language Centre and the role of ‘Creative Scotland’ in relation to promoting the image of ‘Good Scots’ in education and public life. There was some comment on the evident gross disparity between present arrangements for funding Gaelic and Scots and the official use of the heading: ‘Culture and Gaelic Division’ as part of the Cultural Directorate at Victoria Quay.

A plea was made by David Purves for the republication of an updated version of ‘The Way Forward for Scots Language’ published in 1997 by the Scottish Centre for Economic Centre for Economic and Social research (Hon. Vice-Preses, Alex Salmond, MP). This document has been overtaken in some respects, by events, but an updated version has been recorded on the electricscotland website, and nine reforms deemed necessary in the updated document were listed in the March number of the Scots Independent, as appropriate guidance for the development of Government policy for the Scots language.

A wide range of relevant questions were discussed relating to current attitudes to Scots, but although we now have a National Theatre, there was no discussion of the reluctance of this body to promote the production of plays in Scots. However, the extension of drama in Scots beyond the range of pantomime and mock-historical comedy in buckled shoes, and the extent to which Scots should be taught in schools are issues which evidently require further, more-focussed discussion with Government involvement.

Minister attentive to anomaly of Scots

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 02:49:00 +0000 GMT

On 8 October 2008 members of the Scottish parliament’s Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture Committe quizzed Culture Minister Linda Fabiani regarding the budget for new organisation Creative Scotland. During the course of the committee discussions the subject of support for the Scots language was again raised. The Scots Language Centre and Scottish Language Dictionaries had recently received a six month ‘lifeline’ from the Scottish Arts Council but committee convenor Karen Whitefield asked the minister for future assurances. Fabiani stated she was committed to reviewing the funding mechanism for Scots, describing its position as an ‘anomaly’. She further stated that it was indeed strange that our own indigenous cultures had no guaranteed funding and, although she welcomed the lifeline from the Arts Council, she would look at the whole structure once the government audit on the Scots language had reported in November.

The influence of Scots on English

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:48:00 +0000 GMT

It has usually been assumed that linguistic exchange between Scots and English speakers is one way, with English ever increasingly influencing Scots because of the dominant position of English language and culture in the British political union. However, recent publications have shown that the Scots language can, and does, influence English too. In the last few years Scots words such as ‘minging’ and ‘numptie’ have come to enjoy currency among young English speakers and have even been used in the media. Now a book by Christopher Foyle, called ‘Foyle’s Further Philavery’, demonstrates the extent to which words from the Scots language continue to influence the sister language English. The Daily Record this week past has reported that Foyle searched various sources such as newspapers, magazines and watched TV shows to pick up what he thought were unusual words being used in English. Among the words from Scots he includes such current terms as couthie (familiar or informal), clishmaclaver (gossip), hirple (limp), laldie (to do something vigorously) and stramash (a disturbance). The key to their acceptance often seems to be the perception among younger speakers that these are ‘cool’. Foyle’s book is available from Chambers at £9.99.

Ulster Scots post highlights funding imbalance

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 03:14:00 +0000 GMT

Scots Language Centre Director, Michael Hance, has said that an advert for a new post at the Ulster Scots Agency demonstrates how large the gap is in funding for language support in the two territories. Hance said, “This advert on the USA web site for a Finance and Administration Director tells a lot about the level of support the agencies receive from their governments. The job’s starting salary is almost £25,000. To employ someone at that level at SLC would use up more than half of our annual Arts Council grant. This isn’t just about who you can employ, it’s about what you can do to change attitudes and educate people about their culture. It’s about time the Arts Council and the Scottish government supported Scots at the level needed to provide decent quality services.”

“Why is it that money can be provided at this level to a dialect but not to agencies that support the language in its entirety. Scots is very badly treated in comparison with other languages and this situation must not be allowed to continue. We must hope that the audit will help to change things. If it doesn’t the process will have been a waste of time.”

Hance was supported by poet and activist, Rab Wilson. At a meeting at the National Library last week, Wilson called on culture minister, Linda Fabiani, to give the Centre 10% of the £3,000,000 that has been allocated to Ulster Scots over the next year.

Read more about the Ulster Scots Agency job at www.ulsterscotsagency.com

MSP Marks the Contribution of Scots to Europe's Culture

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 01:11:00 +0000 GMT

South of Scotland MSP Aileen Campbell has lodged a motion that describes Scots and Gaelic as “distinctive contributions to the cultural and linguistic life of Europe”. Her motion, lodged in English with translations into Scots and Gaelic, calls on the Parliament to note the European Day of Languages and “encourages people across Scotland and Europe to take part in the wide range of events and competitions being held to mark the day”. MSPs from the SNP, the Scottish Green Party and the Scottish Labour Party have all signed it. Ms Campbell’s motion was lodged at the end of September, coming at the end of a good month for Scots in the Parliament, which began with Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott’s motion demanding more funds for the Scots Langage Centre and Scottish Langage Dictionaries.

Forum Conference on Orkney

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 12:57:00 +0000 GMT

The Forum for Research in the Languages of Scotland and Ulster is to hold its conference next year from 21 to 25 July 2009 and it will be situated in Orkney College, Kirkwall. Final details have yet to be hammered out but papers have been offered by Magnus and Andro Linklater, Michael Longley (on ‘My Orkney Poems’), Peder Gammeltoft on Shetland and Orkney names, and also from Donna Heddle, Berit Sanders and Doreen Waugh. There is still time for offers of papers to be considered and any contributions (on any of the languages of Scotland and Ulster) should be sent to the Chair J Derrick McClure by the deadline of 15 October 2008, either by e-mail j.d.mcclure@abdn.ac.uk or by post to School of Languages and Literature, King’s College, Aberdeen University, Old Aberdeen AB24 2UB, Scotland.

Wigtown Poetry Competition

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 03:07:00 +0000 GMT

Wigtown Book Festival Company in conjunction with Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association are hosting The Wigtwon Poetry Competition 2008-09. This event began four years ago and is now the largest poetry competition held in Scotland. Entries are invited in either English, Scots or Gaelic with a first prize of £2,500, second prize of £1,000, and third prize of £500. Playwright and poet Douglas Dunn will judge. The closing date for entries is 5pm on Friday 30 January 2009 and the winning entries will be published in The Scotsman. For an entry form pleae contact Catriona Taylor by e-mail catriona@dgaa.net or phone 01387 253383.