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Anna "Nan" Shepherd (11 February 1893 – 27 February 1981) was a Scottish
Modernist Modernism is both a philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new forms of art, philosophy, an ...
writer and poet, best known for her seminal mountain memoir, ''The Living Mountain'', based on experiences of hill walking in the
Cairngorms The Cairngorms ( gd, Am Monadh Ruadh) are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 S ...
. This is noted as an influence by nature writers who include Robert Macfarlane and
Richard Mabey Richard Thomas Mabey (born 20 February 1941) is a writer and broadcaster, chiefly on the relations between nature and culture. Education Mabey was educated at three independent schools, all in Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire. The first was at Roth ...
. She also wrote poetry and three novels set in small fictional communities in Northern Scotland. The landscape and weather of this area played a major role in her novels and provided a focus for her poetry. Shepherd served as a lecturer in English at the Aberdeen College of Education for most of her working life.


Life

Nan Shepherd was born on 11 February 1893 at Westerton Cottage,
Cults In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
, now a suburb of
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, to John and Jane Shepherd. Shortly after her birth, the family moved to Dunvegan,
Cults In modern English, ''cult'' is usually a pejorative term for a social group that is defined by its unusual religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals, or its common interest in a particular personality, object, or goal. This ...
, the house she then lived in for most of her life. She attended
Aberdeen High School for Girls Harlaw Academy is a six-year comprehensive secondary school situated 200 yards from the junction of Union Street and Holburn Street in the centre of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is directly adjacent to St Margaret's School for Girls. The academy dra ...
and graduated from the
University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...
in 1915. Shepherd subsequently lectured for the Aberdeen College of Education.Ali Smith, "Shepherd, Anna (1893–1981)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004
Retrieved 22 December 2013
She retired from teaching in 1956, but edited the ''Aberdeen University Review'' until 1963. The university awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1964.. She remained a friend and a supporter of other Scottish writers, including
Neil M. Gunn Neil Miller Gunn (8 November 1891 – 15 January 1973) was a prolific novelist, critic, and dramatist who emerged as one of the leading lights of the Scottish Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s. With over twenty novels to his credit, Gunn was ...
, Marion Angus and Jessie Kesson. Nan Shepherd died on 27 February 1981 at
Woodend Hospital Woodend Hospital is a health facility located in the Woodend area of Aberdeen, Scotland. It is managed by NHS Grampian. History The hospital, which was designed by Brown & Watt, opened as the Old Mill Poorhouse and Infirmary in May 1907. It beca ...
, Aberdeen.


Works


Novels

Shepherd was a major contributor to early Scottish
Modernist literature Literary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing, in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented ...
. Her first novel, ''The Quarry Wood'' (1928) has often been compared to ''
Sunset Song ''Sunset Song'' is a 1932 novel by Scottish writer Lewis Grassic Gibbon. It is considered one of the most important Scottish novels of the 20th century. It is the first part of the trilogy ''A Scots Quair''. There have been several adaptations, ...
'' by
Lewis Grassic Gibbon Lewis Grassic Gibbon was the pseudonym of James Leslie Mitchell (13 February 1901 – 7 February 1935), a Scottish writer. He was best known for ''A Scots Quair'', a trilogy set in the north-east of Scotland in the early 20th century, of which ...
, published four years later, as they both portray restricted, often tragic lives of women in Scotland at that time. Her second novel, ''The Weatherhouse'' (1930), concerns interactions between people in a small Scottish community. Her third and final novel, ''A Pass in the Grampians'', appeared in 1933. Shepherd's fiction brings out the sharp conflict between the demands of tradition and the pull of modernity, particularly in the nature of women's lives in the changing times. All three novels assign a major role to the landscape and weather in small northern Scottish communities they describe.


Poetry

Shepherd was a keen hill-walker. Her poetry expresses her love for the mountainous
Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region to ...
landscape. While a student at university, Shepherd wrote poems for the student magazine, ''Alma Mater,'' but not until 1934 was a collection of her poetry, ''In the Cairngorms'', published. This was reissued in April 2014 by Galileo Publishers, Cambridge, with a new introduction by Robert Macfarlane.


Non-fiction

Shepherd's short non-fiction book ''The Living Mountain'', written in the 1940s, reflects her experiences walking in the
Cairngorm Mountains The Cairngorms ( gd, Am Monadh Ruadh) are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park (the Cairngorms National Park) on 1 ...
. She chose not to publish it until 1977, but it is now the book for which she is best known. It has been quoted as an influence by prominent nature writers such as Robert Macfarlane and Joe Simpson. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' called it "the finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain". Its functions as a memoir and field notes combine with metaphysical
nature writing Nature writing is nonfiction or fiction prose or poetry about the natural environment. Nature writing encompasses a wide variety of works, ranging from those that place primary emphasis on natural history facts (such as field guides) to those in w ...
in the tradition of
Thoreau Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, and hi ...
or
John Muir John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...
. The 2011 Cannongate edition included a
foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...
by Robert Macfarlane and an
afterword An afterword is a literary device that is often found at the end of a piece of literature. It generally covers the story of how the book came into being, or of how the idea for the book was developed. An afterword may be written by someone other ...
by
Jeanette Winterson Jeanette Winterson (born 27 August 1959) is an English writer. Her first book, '' Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit'', was a semi-autobiographical novel about a sensitive teenage girl rebelling against convention. Other novels explore gender pola ...
, these were also included in the 2019 edition by the same publisher.


Essays and further poetry

In the years between the publication of ''In the Cairngorms'' and ''The Living Mountain'', Shepherd placed articles and essays in magazines and journals, including the ''Aberdeen University Review'' and ''The Deeside Field''. A selection of these, with several hitherto unpublished poems, were first collected as ''Wild Geese: A Collection of Nan Shepherd's Writing'', published in 2019 by Galileo Publishers. This includes a short story, "Descent from the Cross", which appeared in the ''Scots Magazine'' in 1943.


Recognition

Nan Shepherd is commemorated in
Makars' Court Makars' Court is a courtyard in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It forms part of Lady Stair's Close, which connects the Lawnmarket with The Mound to the north, and is next to the Writers' Museum. Described as an "evolving national literary monumen ...
outside the Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh. Selections for such commemoration are made by
The Writers' Museum The Writers’ Museum, housed in Lady Stair’s House, Lady Stair's House at the Lawnmarket on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, presents the lives of three of the foremost Scottish writers: Robert Burns, Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson. Run ...
,
The Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland. Founded in 1936, the society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland’s ...
and
The Scottish Poetry Library The Scottish Poetry Library is a public library specialising in Scottish poetry. Since 1999, the library has been based at 5 Crichton's Close, just off the Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town. History and status The library was founded in 1984 ...
. The best-known image of Shepherd is a portrait photograph as a young woman wearing a
headband A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal. T ...
and a
brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with vitreous enamel, ...
on her forehead. Shepherd had decided to have her portrait taken at a local photography studio. Whilst sitting for it, she picked up a length of
photographic film Photographic film is a strip or sheet of transparent film base coated on one side with a gelatin photographic emulsion, emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of th ...
, wrapped it round her head on a whim and attached a brooch to it, making her look like a
Wagnerian Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
princess. In 2016 this was adapted as an illustration for a new series of £5 notes issued by the
Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...
. In 2017 a commemorative plaque was placed outside her former home, Dunvegan, in the North Deeside Road, Cults.


See also

* People on Scottish banknotes


References


External links


Page on Nan Shepherd at slainte.orgThe Nan Shepherd Prize – awarded annually since 2019Scottish Poetry Library – a short biography and bibliography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shepherd, Nan 1893 births 1981 deaths Alumni of the University of Aberdeen People educated at Harlaw Academy People from Aberdeen Scottish novelists Scottish Renaissance Scottish women novelists Scottish women poets Scottish women writers 20th-century Scottish poets 20th-century Scottish novelists 20th-century British women writers Modernist women writers 20th-century Scottish women