Weel duin tae Alan Bissett wha hae bin nominatit in Scots Writer o the Year sponsored by National Library of Scotland in the Scots Language Awards. Vote now!
The Scots Language Awards are in the Johstone Toon Ha, Johnstone on 16th September at 7pm. Tickets fir the ceremony are available tae buy here: https://handsup.link/SLA-BuyTickets.
We askit Alan Bissett o Alan Bissett thae speirins.
Tell us aboot yersel or yer ootfit.
I’m a novelist, playwright and performer who grew up in Falkirk but now lives in Renfrewshire. Almost everything I have written – books and plays – since my debut novel, Boyracers, in 2001 – has included some element of the Scots language in it, sometimes mixed with Standard English and/or pop-culture references, which reflects the three linguistic registers I grew up with. I mainly use the language of Falkirk in my writing and performances – rather than some ‘national’ or ‘standardised’ Scots – and try to make it sound as close as possible to how people actually speak in the place where I grew up.
Whit wis it got ye involvit wi the Scots leid?
Having come from a working-class background, and with a mother who grew up in a rural mining village, Scots was spoken unashamedly in my house when I was young, but it was after I won a Scots poetry recital competition for Burns Night in Primary 3 that I suppose I developed a facility for ‘performing’ it, as it were. Thereafter, I encountered it in written form in The Broons and Oor Wullie, and tried out creating my own comic books and poems using the Scots language.
Much later, as an 18 year-old aspiring writer, I read Trainspotting, which had a seismic impact on my life, my writing and my generation. It was then I realised that if Irvine Welsh could use the language of his community in a novel then I could do the same with mine, and it was a short hop there to James Kelman, Tom Leonard and Liz Lochhead, then creating my own stories in the Falkirk dialect I grew up speaking.
Why dae ye feel it is important tae use Scots in everyday life?
I tend not to use Scots in a written form unless I am doing so creatively, but I use Scots words a great deal in my speech. First of all it places me – and allows others to place me – within a context (“whit’s yer accent? whaur ye fae?”). Secondly, I feel confident and more expressive speaking my mither tongue, as it were, without having to strain for the right English expression. Thirdly, there’s an implicit political statement in using Scots as part of every day life: a sign that we have not been completely colonised and are still a people with our own language, culture and attitudes.
Dae ye hae a favourite Scots phrase or saying?
“Whit’s for ye’ll no go by ye” expresses very philosophical ideas about fate and accepting one’s place in the world in a very simple phrase that is easy even for children to understand.
But I also like the phrase “acting the goat” to describe someone who is being too boisterous and over-confident. The Scots have many phrases to bring such people back down to earth.
Is there a Scots speaker who inspires you?
Well, there was something very powerful about sitting round with the family watching Billy Connolly videos and feeling that he was just like us. He certainly spoke like us. And he spoke about things that we recognised. But probably the Scots speaker who inspires me the most is Billy Kay, a tireless champion for the language, whose knowledge about its history and variety is vast and who has to put up with all sorts of shite from those who believe Scots to be backwards or synthetic or a pose or a mere corruped form of English or (let’s be honest) a political threat. He has all the arguments, and brings every other Scots speaker up.
Do you hear Scots spoken regularly in your local area? Have you noticed any changes over time?
I hear Scots spoken a great deal in my local pub, and even though I am not from Renfrewshire – and so could not accurately gauge how the local dialect has changed over time – I do like the way people use Scots so naturally. There have also been numerous questions about my own accent and the Scots words that people use in Falkirk, which I always take great delight in.
Ony particlar career heighlichts
I have tried to use Scots in genres where it’s perhaps not expected, so my 2005 novel The Incredible Adam Spark (superhero story) and my 2020 novella Lazy Susan (Choose Your Own Adventure book for grown-ups). I’m very proud of using the language in a variety of different literary contexts over the years. But my most well-known work is the trilogy of plays, The Moira Monologues (2009, 2017, 2022), which I perform myself and are based on the women in my family in Falkirk. Moira takes no prisoners in her language (or her attitude!) and it is this, I hope, which gives her an authenticity and helps her connect with audiences all over Scotland. So I’d call that a highlight.
Wha’s yer plans fir the days aheid?
Picking up the weans from the school and taking them to a birthday party. Then getting them down and ordering the customary Friday night Chinese takeaway.
Warm-reekin’, rich!
Read more about Alan Bissett
http://alanbissett.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Bissettism
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The Scots Language Awards are in the Johnstone Toon Ha, Johnstone on 16th September at 7pm. Tickets are available to buy here: https://handsup.link/SLA-BuyTickets There wull be some grand entertainmint oan the nicht tae, includin a recital fae Renfrewshire’s poet laureate Shaun Moore,wha wis appointit as the region’s Tannahill Makar last year. talks fae weel regairdit Scots scrievers Cat Cochrane an Shane Strachan, alang wi musical performances fae celebratit multi-instumentalist brithers Euan and Lewis McLaughlin, an sangster Iona Fyfe.
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