Scottish Islands Group: The Work of Sorley Maclean

Join the Scottish Islands Group on Tuesday 30 May from 7pm for their next online meet-up. This month, we will be joined by Dr Peter Mackay who will give a short talk on the work of Sorley Maclean (Somhairle MacGill-Eain).

Sorley MacLean was the most celebrated Gaelic poet of the 20^th century, one who drew on the deep traditions of song and verse and his acute political and historical understanding to bring Gaelic culture into literary modernity – or to give ‘modernity’ a Gaelic voice. Sorley MacLean was from the Isle of Raasay off the Isle of Skye. His work is just as powerful in translation into English as Gaelic, as recognised by writers such as Seamus Heaney and many others.

Dr Peter Mackay is a poet, broadcaster and Senior Lecturer in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. He is the author of Sorley MacLean (2010) and was the Gaelic editor on the recent Canongate Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse (2021).  

The meeting will be almost entirely in English with some readings in Gaelic.

All welcome – please share with your contacts!

Local group online meet-ups are free to attend. To join us, click the Going button below and enter your details in the RSVP form. We’ll send you an email with a link to join us on Zoom.

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