Modern Scottish Collections

Recent additions to the Modern Scottish Collections at the National Library of Scotland include From tartan to tartanry : Scottish culture, history and myth edited by Ian Brown. As the title suggests, this volume contains a selection of essays on the history of tartan and the associated idea of “Scottishness” both at home and abroad. Scottish regiments, football supporters and the Bay City Rollers are just some of the examples discussed. From tartan to tartanry is published by Edinburgh University Press.

A life in pictures is the “autopictography” or visual autobiography of Scottish author and artist Alasdair Gray. In this fascinating and beautiful book, Alasdair Gray tells the story of his life through a selection of his beautiful and intriguing portraits, paintings and murals. A life in pictures is published by Canongate. You can browse references to articles, chapters and books by and about Alasdair Gray on Scottish Bibliographies Online.

The new Makar, Liz Lochhead, is the subject of three chapters in Narrative, social myth, and reality in contemporary Scottish and Irish women’s writing by Tudor Balinisteanu. In these chapters, Tudor discusses Lochhead’s ‘Dracula’, ‘Grimm sisters’ and ‘Bagpipe muzak’ and contrasts the depiction of women in these works with those by other authors. You can find more articles and chapters about Liz in Scottish Bibliographies Online.

Today at the National Library of Scotland the First Minister Alec Salmond announced Liz Lochhead as the new national poet – the Scots Makar – in succession to her friend the late Edwin Morgan.

Liz Lochhead is a familiar and popular personality in Scottish culture with immediate audience rapport, and a great gift for language. Her appointment is likely to be warmly applauded. Her poetry collections include Dreaming Frankenstein (Polygon, 1984), True Confessions and New Cliches (Polygon, 1985) Bagpipe Muzak (Penguin, 1991), and The Colour of Black and White: Poems 1984-2003 (Polygon, 2003).

More on the appointment – hot off the press- can be found at the Scottish Government and The Scotsman.

A good selection of new items was received by the National Library of Scotland last week, including The Italian Chapel by Philip Paris, a novel based on the true story of the Italian prisoners of war in Orkney during the Second World War.

Also newly received was Headshook : contemporary novelists and poets writing on Scotland’s future. Edited by Stuart Kelly of the Scotland on Sunday, this book is a collection of new writings on the subject of Scotland’s future by eminent Scottish authors including contributions from Alasdair Gray, Ali Smith, Liz Lochhead, James Kelman.

Another recent addition was Homecomings, the story of a woman who finds the diary of a 19th century crofter in her attic. Homecomings is the debut novel by Donald Paterson who was born in Motherwell, grew up in Tain and now lives in the Black Isle.

Also recently received was Land, sea and Skye, the catalogue for an exhibition of Scottish landscapes by artist Fiona Haldane. The exhibition is being held at Eduardo Alessandro Studios in Dundee during March 2010.