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.

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^rd – 27^th – 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^st – 26^th – Book Festival, Isle of Ushant, Brittany. This year the theme was Treasures of Scottish Islands. Each year different island groups are themed.

Sept. 26^th – 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^th – 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^th – Oct.6^th – Skye photo festival, walks and readings.

Oct. 4^th – ‘Some Gairloch Bards’ a reading in Gairloch Library with poet Ian Blake.

Oct. 25^th – Scottish PEN reading at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye, with Aonghas MacNeacail and Rody Gorman.

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)