News and Reviews
Forthcoming in 2011
Co-authored with my wife, Margaret (in English)
Island Conversion:
the Transition of a
Gaelic Poet
from
Sceptic to Believer.
The story of how I became a Christian believer and arguments for believing in a supernatural origin of the universe, as opposed to a naturalistic explanation. As well as an account of unusual personal experiences, there are chapters on synchronicity, the numinous, miracles and science and religion.
Expected publication date is late October, from the Hebrides based The Islands Book Trust.
2011
March 16-20: Gaelic Writer-in-Residence at StAnza 2011, when StAnza International Poetry Festival celebrated the centenary of the birth of the great Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean. More information at www.stanzapoetry.org.uk
April 4-8: Visit to Ireland on Cuairt nam bhFilì, the annual exchange of poets musicians and singers between Eire and Scotland.
May 5-8: Reading at the Ullapool Book Festival.
June 13 & 15: Creative writing workshops for the Flodigarry Township Trust's Gaelic-medium advanced learners' activities week, in conjunction with Sabhal Mòr Ostaig
June 16-18: Ainmeil Thar Cheudan, a conference at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Isle of Skye to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the poet Sorley MacLean. Delivered a paper on MacLean's poetry
June 30: Applecross Bardic School. Lecture on Sorley MacLean and discussion of his poetry.
Highlights in 2008 -2010
2010
May 2010: Poetry reading in Kildonan Church, Sutherland, organised by Friends of Kildonan Church and Timespan.
May 22: L’Incontro, Portree, Isle of Skye. Launch of the novel Teas (Heat) organised by the Gaelic Books Council.
June: Reading poetry and from the novel Teas at the Outhouse (Bothan), Edinburgh.
August 12: Reading from An Claigeann aig Damien Hirst at the Interkeltisches Folkfestival, Hofheim am Taurus.
October 20: Glasgow University, Celtic Department. Writing Workshop and readings from Teas.
November: Imprint 2010: East Ayrshire Book Festival. Reading and discussion featuring Dà Thaobh a’ Bhealaich / The Two sides of the Pass.
2009
May: Word Festival, Aberdeen. Reading from An Claigeann aig Damien Hirst.
August 8: Reading with Mark O. Goodwin at the Hi-Arts Read Bed Tent, Belladrum Festival.
September 26: Launch of Dà Thaobh a’ Bhealaich / The Two Sides of the Pass at the Royal Scottish Academy, in conjunction with the exhibition Research 2009: RSA Awards in Focus. On the same day, Mark and I read at the Merchant City Festival Writing and Literature Conference, in the Fressh Café, Glasgow and later, in the evening, we read at a Gaelic Art and Culture event at the Centre for Contemporary Arts.
November 14: Took part in StAnza’s international one-day Virtual Poetry Festival. Participants in Berlin, Amsterdam, Ghent, Skye, Tbilise, California and Rochester in New York State. An ‘Afterword’ can be seen at: http://www.stanzapoetry.org/virtual-festival.php
February / March: Scottish Poetry Library podcast. Mark O. Goodwin and I talk about poetry, landscape and community. The podcast can be found on the SPL website at www.readingroom.spl.org.uk
Mark’s poem ‘Skye’ from Dà Thaobh a’ Bhealaich / The Two Sides of the Pass is selected for Best of Scottish Poems 2009.
2008
2008 – Writer-in-Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, UHI Millennium Institute, Isle of Skye
Collaboration with Mark O. Goodwin and artist Eòghann MacColla for Dà Thaobh a’ Bhealaich / The two Sides of the Pass
Sabhal Mòr Ostaig:
This month (November, 2007) I was appointed Writer in Residence at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Isle of Skye Gaelic-medium college and part of the UHI Millennium Institute and will be starting in the College soon and I look forward to working with the students and in the community.
Some events 2007
July 16: Launch of Breac-a’-Mhuiltein (Mackerel Sky) at Aos Dana, the book festival at Fèis an Eilein, the annual Isle of Skye music festival. Published by Coisceim, Dublin, the book is a Collected poems 1974-2006. John Purser played his own compositions on the cello. Steven MacIver, Naast, Wester Ross sang Gaelic songs.
July 23 – 27: Sgeulachdan na Tìre (The Talking Landscape), a week-long Gaelic-medium activity holiday based in Staffin, with local Gaelic speakers taking participants on guided walks. See link to Staffin website below for details under ‘Courses’.
Aug. 21– 26: Book Festival, Isle of Ushant, Brittany. This year the theme was Treasures of Scottish Islands. Each year different island groups are themed.
Sept. 26: In Gairloch, reading with the Irish poets, singer and musician on their tour. This is a reciprocal annual event, with a Scottish group visiting Ireland in the spring.
Sept. 27: Reading at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Sleat with Andrew Mitchell. His book Taking You Home is a tribute to Derick Thomson and Iain Crichton Smith. I translated Andrew’s poems into Gaelic.
Sept. 29 – Oct.6: Skye photo festival, walks and readings.
Oct. 4: ‘Some Gairloch Bards’ a reading in Gairloch Library with poet Ian Blake.
Oct. 25: Scottish PEN reading at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, with Aonghas MacNeacail and Rody Gorman.
Nov. 1: Workshop for Latha Mòr na Gàidhlig, Aviemore. 500 primary school children from Gaelic medium schools throughout Scotland descend on Aviemore for a day of entertainment and fun.
Residencies
Plockton: In the latter half of 2006 and into 2007 I worked for the Sorley MacLean Trust on their project ‘Eadar an Saoghal ʼs a’ Bhiothbhuan’ (Between the World and Eternity) in celebration of the work of the great Gaelic poet Sorley MacLean. This consisted of a Gaelic Residency at the Centre of Excellence in Traditional Scottish Music where James Ross, the musician in residence, and I worked with the students there and in Plockton High School to create poems and music that could be performed for a series of concerts in June, 2007.
Excerpts from Reviews
All the excerpts below were translated from Gaelic with the exception of Aonghas MacNeacail’s.
Breac-a’-Mhuiltein (Mackerel Sky), Coiscéim, 2007
“One of the reasons I’m so fond of Myles Campbell’s poetry is that his voice belongs to him alone. These poems are not referential. Not that one cannot sniff out MacLean’s voice here, and Smith’s voice there – I’d swear Dòmhnall Ruadh Chorùna’s voice comes across in one specific line – but this is because the author is soaked in Gaelic poetry, as ought to be the case.
Myles’s best poems range from those which are a feast to the eye and ear and which can be understood immediately to those which are a feast for the mind and which require many a careful reading before their depths are quarried. And there are many in between.”
(Ronald Black, Northwords Now, Autumn 2007)
Saoghal Ùr (New World), diehard, 2003.
“There are are sweet tuneful strains here. There is a fine series of poems about some well-known birds. They speak to us in their own ways. There are also children’s poems, and these are accomplished. Old and new – and young – coming together. I like that. A very agreeable book for the pocket, and one to stimulate the mind quickly and profitably. Don’t be without it.”
(Donald Meek, Gath, Summer 2004)
“And, in a sense, the strength of his Gaelic-ness as a poet has placed Caimbeul in somewhat of an ‘underground’ world. Since he has tended towards favouring his poems being published in an untranslated form only, this poet’s reputation has grown but he has remained to a large extent known only within the Gaelic world. At a time when some of us, who are always opening an English window to our poetry, have been travelling the world, as Gaelic poets, he has been happily ploughing his own furrow of inquiry – the mind has no need of ship or car to travel far and wide.
In a way, it is hard to say if that is a matter for pride or regret since, at the height of his prowess, I reckon Maoilios Caimbeul to be as good as any poet we have today, and it would be a matter of enormous regret were the wider world to remain ignorant of him.”
(Aonghas MacNeacail, Cothrom 41, Autumn 2004)
A’ Gabhail Ris (Accepting, acknowledging), Gairm, 1994
“Maoilios Caimbeul is one of the poets who has an established reputation in the world of contemporary literature. That in itself is no small achievement with the number of writers continually expanding; and if the writers themselves don’t compete with each other, such is the situation in which readers are liable to place them. And where would Maoilios be placed in that series? Amongst the foremost, I should think. This is now his fourth collection. In the first poem he asserts;
I’m a net.
Throw me in the depth,
“And his own nature does that anyway. Patient for tides,/the fisherman and net are one. The net spreads and tightens about the web of his thoughts – and he himself sometimes, mind and heart, finds himself entangled in the mesh of the net. But he is not unaware of what is happening.”
(John MacInnes, Gairm 171, Summer 1995)
Talfasg (Gairm, 1990)
“I greatly enjoyed this story. The writer has a talent for bringing a new world into existence...He keeps the story moving quickly. He is aware of the new technologies that dominate our lives. And now and again a poignant scene emerges from the story, especially when Eachann sees himself as an old man. Also we see love becoming stronger as things become more difficult.
I’m certain that youngsters in schools will enjoy this story and I regret that there weren’t such narratives when I was young myself.
I hope the author continues to write stories such as this, recounting the misadventures and adventures in which these three youngsters find themselves.”
(Iain Crichton Smith, Gairm 152, Autumn 1990)