Bessie Skea or Bessie Grieve (1923–1996) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

writer of prose and poetry. Inspired by her native

Orkney Islands Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

in the north of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, her reputation grew from her regular contributions to '' The Orcadian'' newspaper under the name Countrywoman, and she went on to publish a number of books. She wrote mainly about the natural world and island life.

Life

Jemima Bessie Skea was born on 28 June 1923 on the island of

Shapinsay Shapinsay (, sco, Shapinsee) is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle, ...

where her mother Margaret was postmistress and her father John was a crofter and poet.Sarah Jane Gibbon, in ''The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women'', p151
/ref> She went to school there and started writing at the age of nine.Bessie Grieve, ''The Herald'', 25 May 1996
/ref> In the first year of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

she wrote about the "weirdly beautiful" light effects of the bombing raids on

Scapa Flow Scapa Flow viewed from its eastern end in June 2009 Scapa Flow (; ) is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray,S. C. George, ''Jutland to Junkyard'', 1973. South Ronaldsay and ...

. In 1942 she married Jim Grieve, who had been posted to a wartime battery at Salt Ness not far from her home and, after a couple of moves, they settled on

Harray Harray (pronounced ) ( non, Herað; nrn, Herrað) is a parish on Mainland, Orkney, Scotland. It has the unique distinction of being the only parish without a coastline, instead being landlocked and sitting next to a freshwater loch. Harray is ...

with their three children. After that she was widely known as Bessie Grieve, but used the name Bessie Skea for her books. She went to night school in the 1960s to extend her education with a

Higher Higher may refer to: Music * The Higher, a 2002–2012 American pop rock band Albums * ''Higher'' (Ala Boratyn album) or the title song, 2007 * ''Higher'' (Ezio album) or the title song, 2000 * ''Higher'' (Harem Scarem album) or the title song ...

qualification in English. She was a cat lover who sometimes wrote about her pets, a member of the Orkney Field Club and in later life she enjoyed photography. She died at Ostoft, Shapinsay, where she was born, on 19 May 1996.

Writing

Her first published work was in the ''Orkney Herald'' in 1958. She wrote for them regularly as 'Countrywoman' until its closure three years later, and continued from then on in ''The Orcadian'' until her death in 1996. She was encouraged and championed by the renowned Orkney poet

George Mackay Brown George Mackay Brown (17 October 1921 – 13 April 1996) was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist with a distinctly Orcadian character. He is widely regarded as one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. Biography Early life and caree ...

who said she saw nature "through the eye of a poet" and described places that were "never vividly recorded till now".George Mackay Brown, in his introduction to a ''Countrywoman's Calendar'' by Bessie Skea He wrote introductions for some of her anthologies, and was her friend, as was the writer

Ernest Marwick Ernest Walker Marwick (born 1915 Evie, Orkney; died July 1977) was an Orcadian writer noted for his writings on Orkney folklore and history. Marwick's father was a travelling salesman who had a smallholding in the parish of Evie, to the north of ...

. As well as her columns she wrote short stories and poems. Her style was "sharply honed, discerning, lyrical", "perceptive and poetic". She has been called "one of Orkney’s foremost literary figures".

Bibliography

# ''Melons and icicles: a book of Orkney memories'' (with an introduction by George Mackay Brown), Kirkwall: WR Mackintosh 1963 # ''Waves and tangles'' (with an introduction by George Mackay Brown), Kirkwall: WR Mackintosh 1964 # ''A Countrywoman's Calendar'', Kirkwall, and Danville PA: Yesnaby Publications.1962 # ''A Countrywoman's diary: from the pages of The Orkney Herald and The Orcadian'', Edinburgh: Gordon Wright 1983 # ''Island Journeys'', Orkney Press 1993 # Misfit, in ''Orkney Short Stories'', George Mackay Brown, Orkney Press, 1983, p76

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skea, Bessie 1923 births 1996 deaths Scottish women writers Scottish poets Scottish women poets 20th-century Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish poets