Weel duin tae Taproot Press wha hae bin nominatit in Scots Book o the Year sponsored by Scottish Book Trust in the Scots Language Awards. Vote now!
The Scots Language Awards are in the Gardyne Theatre, Dundee on 24th September at 7pm. Tickets for the ceremony are available to buy here: https://dundeeboxoffice.co.uk. If you cannae make it you can hae a swatch o it online. You can a buy an online ticket here for that.
We askit Brian Holton o Taproot Press thae speirins.
Tell us aboot yersel or yer ootfit.
Brian Holton owresets poetry and prose frae modren and classical Chinese ti English an Scots. He has pit oot a dizzen an mair o books of Yang Lian’s wark, like Anniversary Snow (Shearsman Books, 2019), Venice Elegy (Edizioni Damocle, various editions, 2019), an Narrative Poem (Bloodaxe Books, 2017).
Anniversary Snow tuik the firsten Sarah Maguire Poetry Translation Prize in 2021.
His collection of classical Chinese poetry in Scots, Staunin Ma Lane, was published by Shearsman Books in 2016, and his Hard Roads an Cauld Hairst Winds: Li Bai an Du Fu in Scots was published by Taproot Press in 2022. His Scots translations of Song Dynasty lyrics, Aa Cled Wi Clouds She Cam, is coming from Irish Pages in July 2022.
He makes regular appearances at conferences and literary festivals, and has lectured at universities in the UK, Europe, the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, China, and elsewhere. He has won prizes for his translations, and for his own original poetry.
He lives in Melrose, and plays and sings the music of his native Border country.
Whit wis it got ye involvit wi the Scots leid?
Ma mither wis frae Galae, an her fowk wis aa Galae an Selkirk, an they aa spak a guid auld-farrant an brain border Scots, sae A hed it fra A wis a bairn. At Galae Academy oo wir lairnit Scots literature alang wi the English, sae A read aathing frae the Makars ti MacDiarmid then. A stertit scrievin in Scots in the back-en o the '70s, whan A owreset frae the Chinese a wheen chapters o Men o the Mossflow (Shuihu Zhuan).
Ony particlar career heighlichts
Runner-up, Modern Poetry in Translation Prize 2011; Commendation, Times Stephen Spender Prize 2012; Henry Luce Chinese Poetry Translation Fellow, Vermont Studio Center, 2013, 2014, 2017; Bogliasco Fellow, Centro Studi Ligure, Genoa, Spring 2014;
First Prize for poem in Scots, inaugural Robert Tannahill Prize, 2017; Runner-up, Sangschaw Prize for Owresettin intil Scots, 2019 ; Emily Harvey Foundation Venice residency, 2019; Highly commended, Scots Language Society Sangschaw competition, 2021.
Sarah McGuire International Prize for Poetry Translation, 1st Prize, with Yang Lian, for Anniversary Snow, 2021
Highly commended, Scots Language Society Sangschaw competition, 2021
the firsten Sarah Maguire Poetry Translation Prize in 2021
Wha’s yer plans fir the days aheid?
A've a new buik oot or lang gae by: "Aa Cled wi Clouds She Cam: Saxty Sang Lyrics Owreset Frae the Chinese", an A'm ettlin ti follae it ae day wi anither 60 lyric; neist year another Yang Lian collection, A Tower Built Downward.
Read more about Taproot Press
http://tentietranslations.weebly.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com//brian.holton.395
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/
The Scots Language Awards are in the Gardyne Theatre, Dundee on 24th September at 7pm. Tickets are available to buy here: https://dundeeboxoffice.co.uk Performing on Saturday 24th September include Bruce Fummey, Hamish Macdonald, Beth Malcome and Robyn Stapleton.
If you would like to support Hands Up for Trad in their work with Scottish trad music and musicians please consider supporting our Patreon campaign. We have 3 tiers starting at $1 a month and everything helps support us in our work. Read more at www.patreon.com/handsupfortrad