Appointment: Liz Lochhead is the nation's new Makar. Pic: © Kenny Smith
The woman who gave voice to the moving poem penned for the opening of the Scottish Parliament is to succeed its author as Scotland's new national poet.
Poet and playwright Liz Lochhead has been announced as Scotland's new Makar, the old Scots term for poet, succeeding the late Edwin Morgan.
Ms Lochhead read out Morgan's poem For The Opening Of The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in 2004 after Mr Morgan, who was battling the cancer that took his life in August 2010, was unable to attend.
She will now take her place as the modern day descendent of, in the words of Morgan's poem, "the auld makars who tickled a Scottish king's ear with melody and ribaldry and frank advice".
Ms Lochhead, who will undertake her first official engagement on Friday January 21 when she opens the new Burns Museum in Alloway, described her appointment as an "enormous honour".
She said: "I accept it on behalf of poetry itself, which is, and always has been, the core of our culture, and in grateful recognition of the truth that poetry - the reading of it, the writing of it, the saying it out loud, the learning of it off by heart - all of this matters deeply to ordinary Scottish people everywhere."
Ms Lochhead was selected from a shortlist recommended by a committee of representatives from Scotland's literature community.
A Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, the Glasgow Institute of Art, Glasgow Institute of Architects and the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and the holder of honorary doctorates from ten Scottish universities, Ms Lochhead will take up her post with immediate effect and will be standing down from her post as Glasgow's Makar to fulfil her new role.
Making the announcement at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, First Minister Alex Salmond said: "In creating the post of national poet, the communities of Scotland demonstrated the importance it places on the many aspects of culture which lie at the heart of our identity.
"As an author, translator, playwright, stage performer, broadcaster and grande dame of Scottish theatre, Ms Lochhead embodies everything a nation would want from its national poet.
"With a natural ability to reach all ages and touch both sexes through her writing, Ms Lochhead has also been immensely successful at championing the Scots language.
"She continues to reach out to school pupils through her work which is widely read in Scotland's schools, and she is also a much-valued role model, advocate and inspiration for women who are given a strong voice in her writing."
Robyn Marsack, director of the Scottish Poetry Library, said Ms Lochhead will be "a great ambassador for the poetries of Scotland".
Andrew Dixon, chief executive of Creative Scotland, added that her appointment "sends out an important message about the role which artists play in celebrating the culture of Scotland".
He said: "She commands enormous respect from the literary community and is held in huge affection by the Scottish public. Liz Lochhead's work is extraordinarily wide-ranging, from classical Greek tragedy to cabaret, all with poetry, in English and Scots, at the heart."
- Off the Page: Liz Lochhead, part 1
- Off the Page: Liz Lochhead, part 2
- Off the Page: Liz Lochhead, part 3
- Off the Page: Liz Lochhead, part 4
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