Northern Lights presents George Mackay Brown’s writings on many of the places, people, legends and seasons that formed his vision and work. Included are memoirs of his father and mother, of friends and of legendary characters. Pieces on Rackwick, Yesnaby and Rousay sit alongside selections from his Orcadian column ‘Under Brinkie’s Brae’. Many of the pieces included in Northern Lights appeared there for the first time. Others were printed in Orkney or in national newspapers and magazines, but for most readers they will be as fresh and new as the rest. Taken together, they provide a view, through a unique writer’s eyes, of his sources and inspiration. Though George Mackay Brown rarely left his home islands, a fascinating contrast is provided here by his diary of a visit to the very different Shetland Islands with Gunnie Moberg and Kulgin Duval.
George Mackay Brown was one of the major Scottish literary figures of the twentieth century – a prolific poet and novelist, he took much of his inspiration from the myths and landscape of Orkney, and also from his deep Catholic faith. He was born in Orkney in 1921 and died there in 1996. Following his first book in 1954 he published many more, including plays, novels and poems. Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has set much of his work to music. In 1988 he was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Golden Bird. In 1994 his Beside the Ocean of Time was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and judged Book of the Year by the Saltire Society.
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