Our visiting poet this month is Gaelic Bard, Anne Frater. All are welcome to join us in Taigh Chearsabhagh for an evening of poetry on Thursday 26th March at 7.30pm, where Anne will read her work for us in Gaelic and English.
You are welcome to read your choice of poem for us at the open mic session, which will be on the theme of Shells, taking inspiration from Anne’s first collection of poetry. Please feel free to interpret this in your own way – does the word ‘Shell’ bring to mind shelter, safety, covering, house, brittle, hiding, or quiet? But as always, there is no pressure to take part!
Anne will also be leading a Writing Workshop on Friday 27th March from 10am-12pm. This event is free but must be booked in advance.
From the Isle of Lewis, Anne Frater was brought up in the Point district of the island. Gaelic is her first language, and the language in which her poetry is written. Her poems were first published in Gairm magazine (1986) while she was a student at Glasgow University, from which she graduated with an honours degree in Celtic and French. After training as a secondary school teacher, she returned to Glasgow University, achieving a PhD for her thesis on Scottish Gaelic Women’s Poetry up to 1750. She is currently in post at the University of the Highlands and Islands, Lews Castle College, where she teaches Gaelic literature.
Anne’s work has appeared in two collections, Fon t-Slige / Under the Shell (Gairm, 1995) and Cridhe Creige (Acair, 2017). Anne received the Bardic Crown at the National Mòd last October, holding the title of Bàrd of An Comunn Gàidhealach this year.
If you would like to support our continued programming and enable us to keep offering free events, please consider making a donation to Taigh Chearsabhagh.
Image credit: An Comunn Gàidhealach.