Brownsbank (''Brounsbank'' in Scots) is a cottage close to the small settlement of Candymill to the north of Biggar in

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 ...

. It is best known as the former home of the poet

Hugh MacDiarmid Christopher Murray Grieve (11 August 1892 – 9 September 1978), best known by his pen name Hugh MacDiarmid (), was a Scottish poet, journalist, essayist and political figure. He is considered one of the principal forces behind the Scottish Rena ...

. His old house is maintained by

Biggar Museum Trust Biggar Museum Trust (BMT) is an independent charity based in and around the town of Biggar in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The late Brian Lambie began a remarkable collection of artefacts from the area over some 40 years, and with a number of ot ...

, and is occupied by a writer in residence. Recent holders of the Brownsbank Creative Writing Fellowship have been James Robertson,

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 ...

, Gerry Cambridge,

Aonghas MacNeacail Aonghas MacNeacail (born 7 June 1942), nickname ''Aonghas dubh'' or ''Black Angus'', is a contemporary writer in the Scottish Gaelic language. Early life MacNeacail was born in Uig on the Isle of Skye on 7 June 1942. He was raised in Idrigil, ...

, Tom Bryan, Richie McCaffery and Linda Cracknell. The current (2012) resident is Andrew Sclater. Originally the main criterion was that the writer was a

Lowland 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 ...

poet, like MacDiarmid. The cottage was visited during MacDiarmid's lifetime by many well-known poets including

Norman MacCaig Norman Alexander MacCaig DLitt (14 November 1910 – 23 January 1996) was a Scottish poet and teacher. His poetry, in modern English, is known for its humour, simplicity of language and great popularity. Life Norman Alexander MacCaig was born ...

, Sorley MacLean,

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of the Beat Gener ...

, Yevgeny Yevtushenko and

Seamus Heaney Seamus Justin Heaney (; 13 April 1939 – 30 August 2013) was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature.

References

External links

Official site * https://web.archive.org/web/20160620205755/http://www.brownsbank.org.uk/home.htm Category A listed buildings in South Lanarkshire {{SouthLanarkshire-geo-stub