We celebrate Backroom 40 with a long overdue poem in Gaelic by Marcas Mac an Tuairneir. One of the most beautiful and neglected languages in Europe, and with a great legacy of poetry, Gaelic has been the language of a succession of brilliant poets in the last 50 years, including Iain Crichton Smith, Derick Thomson, our own Willie Neill, Sorley MacLean, and more recently, Meg Bateman, Maoilios Caimbeul, Rody Gorman, Aonghas MacNeacail and Angus Peter Campbell.
Marcas Mac an Tuairneir is a new and dynamic kid on the block, using an ancient language to express very modern themes. On this page he reads 'Selkie', a poem with a very contemporary message. He works in Gaelic an English not just in poetry but in drama, music and journalism. Marcas was named New Gaelic Playwright of the year by Comhairle nan Leabhraichean an Playwrights' Studio Scotland in 2016. His two full-length plays 'Tilleadh' and 'Turadh' won the Stornoway Gazette Trophy at the Royal National Mòd.
As a singer-songwriters he was the recipient of the award for a new Gaelic song at the 2018 Royal National Mòd and had been selected to represent Scotland at Liet International – the minoritised languages’ answer to the Eurovision Song Contest – which was due to take place in Aabenraa, Denmark, this month. Marcas was a Mòd Gold Medal Finalist in 2016 and a Mòd Traditional Gold Medal Finalist in 2019.
He has published two poetry collections ('Deò', Gracenote, 2013; 'Lus na Tùise', Bradan Press, 2016) as well as the co-authored pamphlet 'beul-fo-bhonn / heelster-gowdie' (Tapsalteerie, 2017). A brand new collection 'Dùileach' is expected in 2020 with Evertype.
He was the recipient of the Wigtown Gaelic Poetry Prize in 2017. He is poet-in-residence at The Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh.
He is the editor of online Gaelic arts blogwww.staing.net and the Gaelic editor of 'The Poets' Republic'.
Two film poems made by Marcas here and here.
Watch Marcas singing ‘Grioglachan’ co-written with Mary Ann Kennedy here.
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