We were very sad to lose our lovely group member, Kathryn Sclater, in June 2026. She is missed and remembered with love. Below is a poem by Kathryn, read by her.
The Orkney Voices Group wis started at the beginneen o 2018. The aim o hid wis tae mak a spaece whaar Orcadian spaekers could finnd weys o writan an spaekan aboot writeen.
The idea grew oot o a Scottish PEN project, Many Voices, that encouraged different groups ower Scotland tae finnd thir voices in creative writeen classes. Here is a link tae the project on the Scottish PEN website.
Images of Orkney Voices: Rebecca Marr
At the end o the project, the fokk in the Orkney group wanted tae keep goan, so we ran it wirsels up tae Easter 2018. Be this time the George Mackay Fellowship haed agreed tae tak the group under ids umbrella and applied fur – and got – fundeen fur it fae OIC’s Culture Fund. Orkney Library & Archive gaed us the use o a room and support us wae books and materials and copies o the Orkney Dictionary.
So faer members o the group are haen wark published in Living Orkney and in the No. 18 issue o Gutter Magazine, a Scottish-wide literary magazine, as weel as two Open Book publications, I See My Voice andThe Gift of Time. Thir first anthology, Gousters, Glims and Veerieorums wis published in 2021, tae mark the centenary o George Mackay Brown. It has since been recorded as an audiobook and can be listened tae wharivver you get your podcasts. Here’s a link tae the Apple wan: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gousters-glims-and-veerie-orums/id1795418161
They haev performed thir poems and stories – or haen them read by ither group members – at the George Mackay Brown Fellowship Orkney Book Festival, 2017; Book Week Scotland, Orkney Library, 2017; Scottish PEN event in Edinburgh, February 2018; The Reel Summer Concerts, 2018 & 2019; Armistice Day November 2018; the Kirkwall BID Burns Days, January 2019 & 2020; West Side Cinema International Women’s Day event, March 2019. In January 2021, no able tae meet in person, we performed and recorded a Burns event on Zoom. (See video below)
Fae time tae time they invite different writers tae come and dae a workshop. In 2018, Marlene Mainland led a session usan family photographs as a springboard for the group’s writeen. In January 2019, Yvonne Gray tuk the group through the process o writan a Renga aroond the theme o winter and Robert Burns. (See below) In April 2019, award-winning poet Jen Hadfield visited Orkney and led a session wi the group, as weel as daean a readeen o her most recent wark in the eveneen in Stromness Library. And since then, laeter in 2019, Pam Beasant cam along tae gae us a session on poetry. In 2020, under lockdoon restrictions, Morag MacInnes joined us on Zoom tae spaek aboot her writeen in Orcadian.
Since the publication o Gousters, Glims and Veerieorums, they hiv written for, performed and appeared in many different shows and festivals. In 2022 they created and performed the St Magnus International Johnsmas Foy, Gallows Ha, centred roond Vera Butler’s play o the same name and includan wark fae aal the group members and singing fae Sarah Jane Gibbon and Emma Grieve. Abersee Press published the text of the Gallows Ha in 2022. In 2024 the group wrote poems to be made into songs by composer Stephen Deazley for Orkney primary school bairns tae sing in a show for the St Magnus Festival called The Rhythm of Stones. In 2025 they performed original wark in anither Johnsmas Foy, Vaigan b’ the Shore, aboot the life and wark o Robert Rendall, written by members Issy Grieve and Greer Norquoy. Members hiv won competitions and recognition in various places, includan Kathryn Sclater and Ingrid Grieve. They contributed poems in Orcadian for Orkney Library & Archive’s Interactive Native Flora Trail – https://orkneylibrary.org.uk/interactive-orcadian-flora-trail/ and read them alongside Simon Armitage, the UK Poet Laureate, on his visit tae Orkney Library. Thir wark wis commissioned tae accompany paintings by the Orkney MS Society for their publication, Aff tae the Creels. And they continue tae develop…
They meet in Orkney Library & Archive wance a fortnight. Hid is oppen tae spaekers o Orcadian wha want tae write in Orcadian or English or in a combination o them both.
If you aer interested, please get in touch wae Barbara Johnston, e-mail: barb.blackburn@btinternet.com
Gousters, Glims and Veerie-orums
Here is a poem by Ruth Tait, written and recorded by her:
Renga in Winter
Reid Lantern in the Mirk
The sweepan blast -
blindan sleet an snaw. Winter's dirge
soothes my soul.
Moonlight pale on flagstones -
hurry tae the shelter o the byre!
Reid lantern in the mirk.
Treckle poored in a tub -
sweet feed for the kye.
Tracks in the snow
lead tae a deid hen.
Maet for the men
ready for wark - porridge,
bannocks, butter, tea.
A secret tryst ahint the lichen-crusted wall -
rough-hewn hands no more.
Streets hotchan again -
hardly room tae move.
Bluidy cruise ships!
Paddle in the burn. Blue forget-me-nots.
Heaven's right here.
Empty shinan streets.
Walkan tae the Seturday job . . .
dae I hiv tae?
Yir no so bad. Ye'll likely dae.
so whit dae ye think?
Hervest cumman soon -
golden fields right tae the loch.
Bloated flies on rosehips.
The oats sing; the barley pops.
The combine snarls.
Hokku derived fae the first two stanzas o "Winter: a Dirge" by Robert Burns
Renga composed by Orkney Voices on Seturday 26 January 2019
in the Marwick Room, Orkney Library and Archive, Kirkwall
Vera Butler, Sheila Garson, Yvonne Gray (Mester), Ingrid Grieve, Issy Grieve, Barbara Johnston, Alison Miller (Host).
Writing Orkney 