Exploring recorded memory

The Fellowship was inaugurated by Creative Scotland in 2013 and provides a writer with time and support to develop their work, in partnership with a host organisation. It was established in memory of Dr Wallace who committed his entire professional life to helping writers and literature organisations in Scotland.

Mr Campbell, who writes in both Gaelic and English, will be invited to explore - and be inspired by - the ways in which the Library’s collections reflect Scotland’s past and present.

He said he was delighted to be appointed to the role: “I loved and admired Dr Gavin Wallace as a generous man who encouraged writers because he knew that literature is – to quote Italo Calvino – ‘the promised land of language.’

“I am especially delighted that the Fellowship is to be based at another national treasure of ours – the National Library of Scotland. I feel like a child about to be let loose in Charlie’s Chocolate factory: the theme of the Fellowship is ‘the recorded memory of Scotland’, and I look forward to the surprises that are in store for me as I delve into the manuscripts, tapes, books, maps, letters, audio and visual and digital recordings which the people of Scotland have left for all of us.

“My task will be to make creative use of these treasures during, and after, the year-long Fellowship.”

Mr Campbell was born on South Uist and is a politics and history graduate from the University of Edinburgh. He has published four collections of poetry and six Gaelic novels.