Plenary 4: Poetry, Dualchas and Making your own villages

Plenary Description

In Gaelic culture there were traditionally different ways of 'placing' someone. 'Dualchas': who your people (family, kin, ancestors) are, and what that says about you; 'Dùthchas': where you are from, and what that might say about you if anything; 'gnàthas': your own deeds and character. These might seem far removed from modern understandings of community, and how we fit into them or create them, but they can also cast an odd shadow over our sense of self and our place in the world. Peter Mackay, Scotland's Makar, talks in this session about Gaelic poetry, belonging and the construction of 'villages', physical and emotional.

Biography

‘S ann à Leòdhas a tha Pàdraig MacAoidh, agus chaidh dà leabhar bàrdachd leis fhoillseachadh le Acair – Gu Leòr (2015) agus Nàdur De (2020) – agus pamflaid le Clutag Press, From another island (2010). ’S e àrd-ollamh aig Oilthigh Chill Rìmhinn a th’ann agus ann an 2024 chaidh ainmeachadh Makar na h-Alba.

Peter Mackay is a poet, broadcaster, translator and lecturer. He has two collections of poetry with Acair – Galore (2015) and Some Kind of (2020) – and a pamphlet, From another island (2010), with Clutag Press. Originally from the Isle of Lewis, he lives in Edinburgh and is a Professor in the School of English at the University of St Andrews. In 2024 he was appointed Scottish Makar.