HE was one of Scotland’s greatest 20th-century poets and authors who told wider truths from the micro world of his native Orkney. Now a writer is wanted to follow in the ink tips of George Mackay Brown in the centenary year of his birth. Applications opened this week for a residency to give an Orkney-based writer the opportunity to develop new work using Orcadian dialect. Hosted by the National Library of Scotland, the “Scots Scriever” post is for 12 months and will provide £15,000 to the successful applicant. “The role of the Scots Scriever – a joint initiative between Creative Scotland and the National Library of Scotland – aims to support the creation of original writing in Scots and the promotion of the language through creative forms,” says the advert.
Five Classic Scottish Novels - The People s Friend
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The joy of James Joyce and why experimental writing isn t always tripe - Ian McMillan
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Wind, kayaks and folklore: The enduring charm of the Orkney islands J.R. Patterson © Provided by The Independent
Bit ’o wend today,” says the Orcadian; except it’s a habitual greeting - it might be blowing like hell. In some ways, it’s commendable that complaining about the weather is virtually unknown in Orkney, given how regularly the sea is raucous enough to broach the land and close roads.
It’s impossible to ignore the wind, though, because it constitutes both weather and conversation.
Orcadian endurance hides an astute mind for the breeze. They’re wind aficionados, keenly marking the incremental differences between the light skiff of a kuil and a slightly stiffer tirl, and on upward through a gurl, a gushle, a hushle, a skolder, a skuther, a gouster, right up to the strong, muscular blast of a skreevar. Even the wind that rushes down the chimney pipe to scatter the ashes has a name: flan. When the wind falls, as it occasionally does, there a
Ruth Nicol’s landscape paintings are among the most distinctive in contemporary art. In the last of his series on the Junor Gallery, Alan Riach talks to the artist about her work and exhibitions.
Alan Riach: Ruth, we’ve worked happily together for some years now on the “Landmarks” exhibition with Sandy Moffat and your association with Sandy goes back further. Could you tell us first how you came to painting originally?
Ruth Nicol: I was a late starter. I decided to go to evening classes at Edinburgh College of Art, and it was there that the very talented George Donald told me the essential thing: “You have to believe that you’re an artist. Nobody will believe you if you don’t believe in yourself.”