James Robertson (born 1958) is a Scottish writer who grew up in
Bridge of Allan
Bridge of Allan ( sco, Brig Allan, gd, Drochaid Ailein), also known colloquially as ''Bofa'', is a town in the Stirling council area in Scotland, just north of the city of Stirling. Overlooked by the National Wallace Monument, it lies on the ...
,
Stirlingshire
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling, gd, Siorrachd Sruighlea) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration countyRegisters of Scotland. Publications, leaflets, Land Register Counties. of Scotland. Its county town is Stirli ...
. He is the author of several short story and poetry collections, and has published six novels: ''
The Fanatic'', ''
Joseph Knight'', ''
The Testament of Gideon Mack
''The Testament of Gideon Mack'' is a novel written by the Scottish author James Robertson, first published in 2006. It pays conscious homage to ideas and themes originally explored with powerful effect in the novel ''The Private Memoirs and Co ...
'', ''
And the Land Lay Still'', ''The Professor of Truth'', and ''To Be Continued…''. ''The Testament of Gideon Mack'' was long-listed for the 2006
Man Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. ...
.
Robertson also runs an independent publishing company called
Kettillonia, and is a co-founder (with
Matthew Fitt
Matthew Fitt (born 1968) is a Scots poet and novelist. He was writer-in-residence at Greater Pollok in Glasgow, then National Scots Language Development Officer. He has translated several literary works into Scots.
Early life
Fitt was born in 19 ...
and Susan Rennie) and general editor of the Scots language imprint
Itchy Coo (produced by
Black & White Publishing
Black & White Publishing is an independent publishing house based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Since 1999, the company has produced a range of titles, with more than 350 in print, including over 50 in the award-winning ''Itchy Coo'' ...
), which produces books in Scots for children and young people.
Early life
Educated at
Glenalmond College
Glenalmond College is a co-educational independent boarding school in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, for children aged between 12 and 18 years. It is situated on the River Almond near the village of Methven, about west of the city of Perth. ...
and
Edinburgh University
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...
, Robertson attained a PhD in history at Edinburgh on the novels of
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
. He also spent an exchange year at the
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...
in Philadelphia.
Robertson worked in a variety of jobs after leaving university, mainly in the book trade. He was a publisher's sales rep and later worked for
Waterstone's Booksellers, first as a bookseller in Edinburgh and later as assistant manager of the
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
branch.
Literature
Robertson became a full-time author in the early 1990s. From 1993 to 1995 he was the first writer in residence at
Hugh MacDiarmid's house outside
Biggar, Lanarkshire. Robertson had already been heavily influenced by MacDiarmid and MacDiarmid's
Scots language
Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonly ...
poetry prior to this appointment. His early short stories and first novel used contemporary and historical life in Edinburgh as a key theme, drawing on his experience of living there intermittently during his PhD and during the later 1990s before moving to
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
, and subsequently
Angus
Angus may refer to:
Media
* ''Angus'' (film), a 1995 film
* ''Angus Og'' (comics), in the ''Daily Record''
Places Australia
* Angus, New South Wales
Canada
* Angus, Ontario, a community in Essa, Ontario
* East Angus, Quebec
Scotland
* An ...
. Each of his three novels has been influenced to a degree by where he was living when he wrote them. ''Joseph Knight'' is based on the
true story of a slave brought from the Caribbean to Scotland, and the novel revolves primarily around the cities of Dundee, near where Robertson was then living, and Edinburgh. ''The Testament of Gideon Mack'', meanwhile, is set in a fictitious rural village that resembles the villages of eastern Scotland bordering the Highlands between Dundee and Aberdeen where Robertson currently lives. His novels, therefore, feature the Scottish urban and rural landscape as prevalently as Scottish history between the 17th and 20th centuries.
While Robertson's first two novels featured the Scottish past (''The Fanatic'' merged a story of contemporary Scotland in the months surrounding the 1997 election with a story of Scotland in the 17th century, while ''Joseph Knight'' was purely historical) he is not a historical novelist, and ''Gideon Mack'' was set in Scotland between the 1950s and the present day.
In November 2004 Robertson was the first, and to date, only writer-in-residence at the newly opened Scottish Parliament building. The appointment was for three days only and was negotiated by Scottish Book Trust with the Parliament. On each day Robertson delivered a 'masterclass' on different aspects of the relationship between Scottish literature and politics. These later became three essays which were published, along with eleven sonnets reflecting his experience of the new building, in ''Voyage of Intent: Sonnets and Essays from the Scottish Parliament'' (Luath/Scottish Book Trust, 2005).
The other side of Robertson's career since circa 2000 has been
Itchy Coo, a publisher of children's books in the
Scots language
Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonly ...
. Initially funded by the
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...
, Itchy Coo has proved to be a popular enterprise. Robertson's interest in and use of Scots also features heavily in his poetry and prose, and notably in his first two novels, which blend modern English with Scots. ''Katie’s Moose'' won the early years category in the Royal Mail Awards for Scottish Children's Books 2007.
In 2010 he became the first writer-in-residence at
Edinburgh Napier University
, mottoeng = Without knowledge, everything is in vain
, established = 1992 – granted University status 1964 – Napier Technical College
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 802
, administrative_staff = 562
, chancellor = Will Whitehorn
, ...
.
In 2011 Robertson contributed a short story "The Quaking of the Aspen" to an anthology supporting The Woodland Trust. The anthology
Why Willows Weep- has so far helped The Woodland Trust plant approximately 50,000 trees, and is to be re-released in paperback format in 2016.
Robertson's ''365 Stories'' was published in 2014- a collection of stories that are each 365 words in length, written over the course of a year.
Personal life
Politically, Robertson has always been in favour of self-determination for Scotland. He was involved in the political magazine ''Radical Scotland'' in the 1980s.
Awards and recognition
Robertson was awarded an honorary degree by
The Open University
The Open University (OU) is a British public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate students are based in the United Kingdom and principally study o ...
at the degree ceremony in the
Usher Hall
The Usher Hall is a concert hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. It has hosted concerts and events since its construction in 1914 and can hold approximately 2,200 people in its recently restored auditorium, which is well loved by performers due to its ...
,
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
on 21 June 2014.
In October 2020, he won the Janet Paisley Services to Scots Award in the Scots Language Awards. In 2022 he won the
for ''News of the Dead.''
Publications
Novels
*''
The Fanatic'' (Fourth Estate, 2000)
*''
Joseph Knight'' (Fourth Estate, 2003)
*''
The Testament of Gideon Mack
''The Testament of Gideon Mack'' is a novel written by the Scottish author James Robertson, first published in 2006. It pays conscious homage to ideas and themes originally explored with powerful effect in the novel ''The Private Memoirs and Co ...
'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2006)
* ''
And the Land Lay Still'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2010)
*''The Professor of Truth'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2013)
*''To Be Continued…'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2016)
*''News of the Dead'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2021)
Non-Fiction
*''Michael Marra: Arrest This Moment'' (Big Sky Press, 2017)
Short stories
*''Close'' (Black and White Publishing, 1991)
*''The Ragged Man's Complaint'' (Black and White Publishing, 1993)
*''Republics of the Mind'' (Black and White Publishing, 2012)
*''365: Stories'' (Hamish Hamilton, 2014)
Poetry
*''Sound-Shadow'' (Black and White Publishing, 1995)
*''I Dream of Alfred Hitchcock'' (Kettillonia pamphlet, 1999)
*''Stirling Sonnets'' (Kettillonia pamphlet, 2001)
*''Voyage of Intent: Sonnets and Essays from the Scottish Parliament'' (Scottish Book Trust and Luath Press, 2005)
*''Hem and Heid'' (Kettillonia pamphlet, 2009)
Children's books
In Scots unless indicated.
*''A Scots Parliament'' (English, Itchy Coo, 2002)
*''Eck the Bee: A Scots Word Activity Book'' (Ann Matheson and James Robertson, Itchy Coo, 2002)
*''The Hoose o Haivers'' (Matthew Fitt, Susan Rennie and James Robertson, Itchy Coo, 2002)
*''Tam O'Shanter's Big Night Oot: Wee Plays in Scots'' (edited by Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2003)
*''King o the Midden: Manky Minging Rhymes in Scots'' (edited by Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2003) (also in a
digest format, ''The Wee King o the Midden'', Itchy Coo, 2008)
*''The Smoky Smirr O Rain: A Scots Anthology'' (edited by Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2003)
*''A Moose in the Hoose: A Scots Counting Book'' (Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2006)
*''Katie's Ferm: A Hide & Seek Book for Wee Folk'' (Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2007)
*''Blethertoun Braes: More Manky Minging Rhymes in Scots'' (edited by Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2007)
*''A Wee Book O Fairy Tales in Scots'' (Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2007)
*''Rabbie's Rhymes: Robert Burns for Wee Folk'' (edited by Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2008)
*''Katie's Moose: A Keek-a-boo Book for Wee Folk'' (Robertson and Fitt, Itchy Coo, 2008)
*''
The Sleekit Mr Tod'' by
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl (13 September 1916 – 23 November 1990) was a British novelist, short-story writer, poet, screenwriter, and wartime fighter ace of Norwegian descent. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Dahl has be ...
(Scots translation, Itchy Coo, 2008)
*''
Winnie the Pooh
Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard.
The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'' by
A. A. Milne
Alan Alexander Milne (; 18 January 1882 – 31 January 1956) was an English writer best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh, as well as for children's poetry. Milne was primarily a playwright before the huge success of Winni ...
(Scots translation, Itchy Coo, 2008)
*''Katie's Year: Aw the Months for Wee Folk'' (Itchy Coo, 2009)
*''
Precious and the Puggies'' by
Alexander McCall Smith
Alexander "Sandy" McCall Smith, CBE, FRSE (born 24 August 1948), is a British writer. He was raised in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and formerly Professor of Medical Law at the University of Edinburgh. He became an expert on medical law and ...
(Scots translation, Itchy Coo, 2010)
*''The Hoose at Pooh's Neuk'' by A.A. Milne (Scots translation, Itchy Coo, 2010)
*''Katie's Zoo: A Day Oot for Wee Folk'' (Itchy Coo, 2010)
*''The Gruffalo in Scots'' by Julia Donaldson (Itchy Coo, 2012)
*''The Gruffalo's Wean'' by Julia Donaldson (Itchy Coo, 2013)
*''Room on the Broom in Scots'' by Julia Donaldson (Itchy Coo, 2014)
*''Whit the Clockleddy Heard'' by Julia Donaldson (Itchy Coo, 2015)
*''The Reiver Rat'' by Julia Donaldson (Itchy Coo, 2015)
*''The Troll and the Kist o Gowd'' by Julia Donaldson (Itchy Coo, 2016)
*''Paddington in Scots'' by Michael Bond (Itchy Coo, 2020)
Edited works
*''My Schools and Schoolmasters'' by Hugh Miller (Black and White Publishing, 1993)
*''Scenes and Legends of the North of Scotland'' by Hugh Miller (Black and White Publishing, 1994)
*''A Tongue in yer Heid'' (Black and White Publishing, 1994)
*''Dictionary of Scottish Quotations'' (with Angela Cran) (Mainstream Publishing, 1996)
*''Selected Poems of Robert Fergusson'' (Birlinn, 2000)
Translations
*''Fae the Flouers o Evil'' (Scots trans. Robertson of Baudelaire) (Kettillonia Pamphlet)
*''La A'Bhreitheanais or The Day o Judgment'' (Scots trans. Robertson of Dugald Buchanan) (Kettillonia Pamphlet)
Websites
scotgeog.com(A website spin-off from the Testament of Gideon Mack, 2006)
Essays
Story behind The Professor of Truth(Online Essay, 2013)
References
External links
Itchy Coo educational Scots language publisher for younger readers, co-founded by Robertson
Kettillonia independent publisher run by Robertson
scotgeog.com website authored by Robertson
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, James
1958 births
Living people
Scottish novelists
People from Bridge of Allan
Scottish poets
People educated at Glenalmond College
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh