THIS WEEK
Country Focus: Scotland Gaelic and Scots-language books
Scots-language publishing welcomes new entrant as stalwarts toast anniversaries
While Acair and Itchy Coo are celebrating major milestones this year, the Gaelic and Scots-language publishing scene has been invigorated by new entrant Doric Books
CarolineCarpen @carolinec1988
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his year brings two milestones for Scotland’s Gaelic and Scots-language
publishers, with Acair Books and Black & White Publishing’s children’s Scots imprint, Itchy Coo, celebrating significant anniversaries. Angus Morrison, manager at
Acair, which publishes in Scotish Gaelic and English, says the company’s 45th birthday will see the release of “a lot of exciting publications”, including Eòghan Stiùbhart’s first poetry collection, Beum-sgèithe, to be launched during Seachdain na Gàidhlig (World Gaelic Week) in March. He also points to prize-winning author Frank Rennie’s Among the Layers of the Land, and the firm’s plans to participate in the Year of Scotland’s Stories and Hebridean book festival Faclan. For Itchy Coo’s 20th anniver-
sary there will be a tour of hybrid events later in the year, incorpo- rating schools and bookshops across Scotland as well as online audiences. Managing director Campbell Brown says: “It’s vitally important that we keep leting new generations know about the brilliant Scots-language books on the list… [They] support the language that so many people in Scotland speak, and it’s also a really important stepping stone to understanding Scots writing, from the work of Robert Burns
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right up to the present day.” On the publishing side, there will be several yet-to-be-announced new editions to support the tour and a new addition to the Fairy Tales and Fables range in August, The Itchy Coo Book o Aesop’s Fables. Both Brown and Morrison
report a dip in book sales during lockdowns due to the closure of physical book and giſt retailers. Acair received support from Comhairle nan Leabhraichean (the Gaelic Books Council) and Bòrd na Gàidhlig (the Scotish government’s executive public body responsible for Gaelic) and Morrison is upbeat about the market for Gaelic publishing, saying: “It is gratifying to see new authors being published. There seems to have been a lot of writ- ing going on over the pandemic judging by the manuscripts we are receiving!”
The future also looks “bright once again” at Itchy Coo, where sales have “recovered strongly”. Brown believes the imprint’s financial sustainabilit demon- strates the “cultural importance of Scots language”. He reflects: “When we started working with Itchy Coo’s founders, James Robertson and Mathew Fit, we knew that it was on a scale not previously atempted for Scots- language children’s books. Now, 20 years later, we’ve published nearly 100 titles… It’s an achieve- ment that everyone involved can be very proud of.”
A new player came onto the Scots-language publishing scene last year. Doric Books is a Comm- unit Interest Company focused
DORIC BOOKS CO-FOUNDER AARON GALE WITH ONE OF ITS TITLES HOT OFF THE PRESS
on publishing in the Scots dialect Doric, spoken in the north-east of the country. It was founded by author and illustrator Aaron Gale and storyteller Jackie Ross, as they found it was “really difficult” to get Doric books published by mainstream presses.
With Ross’ personal funds and a grant from the Doric Board, the pair launched a website and printed their first book, Gale’s Auld McDonald hid a Fairm, last May. They have since published two more titles, with each selling approximately 100 copies per month through the publisher’s website and in 21 outlets across north-east Scotland. People have responded “very positively” to the press, with Ross saying: “It seems that our mither tongue and local culture is emotive and close to people’s hearts.”
Doric Books will focus on
We felt that there was a gap in the market. Our main motivation, though, is a passion for our mither tongue and a desire to promote our language Jackie Ross, Doric Books co-founder
fiction and non-fiction for chil- dren, with aims to publish more widely once it is established. It also hopes to extend its commu- nit engagement work, especially supporting Scots language in schools. Ross says: “The market is considered small in publishing terms but nearly half the popula- tion of the north-east of Scotland stated in the last census that they had some level of Scots language, so we felt that there was a gap in the market. Our main motivation, though, is a passion for our mither tongue and a desire to promote our language.”
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