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Liz Lochhead Hon FRSE (born 26 December 1947) is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the
Makar A makar () is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a royal court poet. Since the 19th century, the term ''The Makars'' has been specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth cen ...
, or National Poet of Scotland, and served as Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011.


Early life

Elizabeth Anne Lochhead was born in Craigneuk, a "little ex-mining village just outside
Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
",
Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...
. Her mother and father had both served in the army during the Second World War, and later, her father was a local government clerk. In 1952, the family moved into a new council house in the mining village of Newarthill, where her sister was born in 1957. Though she was encouraged by her teachers to study English, Lochhead was determined to go to Glasgow School of Art where she studied between 1965 and 1970. After graduation Lochhead taught art at high schools in Glasgow and Bristol, a career at which she says she was "terrible"


Career

Having written poetry as a child and whilst studying at Art School, Lochhead won a BBC Scotland Poetry Competition in 1971, and Gordon Wright published her first collection of Poetry, ''Memo For Spring'' in 1972 under his Reprographia imprint. It is often claimed that at this time Lochhead was part of a Philip Hobsbaum writers' group, a crucible of creative activity – with other members including Alasdair Gray,
James Kelman James Kelman (born 9 June 1946) is a Scottish novelist, short story writer, playwright and essayist. His fiction and short stories feature accounts of internal mental processes of usually, but not exclusively, working class narrators and their ...
, Tom Leonard, Aonghas MacNeacail and Jeff Torrington, Liz Lochhead has repeatedly claimed this to be an invention. She has however recalled the support and inspiration she drew from the Scottish poetry scene of the early 1970s and meetings with the elder generation - Norman MacCaig, Edwin Morgan, Robert Garioch – and with contemporaries such as Leonard, Kelman and Gray. Lochhead went on to produce revue shows with Leonard and Gray, including Tickly Mince, and The Pie of Damocles. Other the following years Lochhead published further collections ''Islands'' (1978) and ''The Grimm Sisters'' (1979) and moved first to Toronto as part of the first Scottish/Canadian writers exchange and later made her home in New York. In 1986 she returned permanently to Glasgow. Lochhead's success in poetry was rivalled by her writing for the theatre. Her plays include ''Blood and Ice'' (1982), '' Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off'' (1987), ''Perfect Days'' (2000) and a highly acclaimed adaptation into Scots of
Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
's '' Tartuffe'' (1985). She adapted the medieval texts of the ''York Mystery Plays'', performed by a largely amateur cast at York Theatre Royal in 1992 and 1996. Her adaptation of
Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...
' ''
Medea In Greek mythology, Medea (; ; ) is the daughter of Aeëtes, King Aeëtes of Colchis. Medea is known in most stories as a sorceress, an accomplished "wiktionary:φαρμακεία, pharmakeía" (medicinal magic), and is often depicted as a high- ...
'' won the Saltire Society Scottish Book of the Year Award in 2001. Her plays have been performed on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
: '' Blood and Ice'' (11 June 1990), '' The Perfect Days'' (16 May 1999), '' Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off'' (11 February 2001) and '' The Stanley Baxter Playhouse: Mortal Memories'' (26 June 2006). Her adaptation of Helen Simpson's short story ''Burns and the Bankers'' was broadcast on
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
on Burns Night, 25 January 2012.BBC – Afternoon Drama – '' Burns and the Bankers ''
/ref> Her plays ''Educating Agnes'' and ''Thebans'' premiered in the early 2000s, and in 2011 as part of the Glasgay Festival, Liz Lochhead's play ''Edwin Morgan's Dreams and Other Nightmares'' premiered at the Tron and it was revived three years later as part of the cultural celebrations for the commonwealth games. She has produced many new works for the Oran Mor in Glasgow, including ''Mortal Memories'' (2012) and ''Between the Thinks Bubble and the Speech Balloon'' (2014) with Tom Leonard, William Letford, Grace Cleary, and Henry Bell. Like her work for theatre, her poetry is alive with vigorous speech idioms; later collections include ''True Confessions and New Clichés'' (1985), '' Bagpipe Muzak'' (1991), ''Dreaming Frankenstein: and Collected Poems'' (1984), The Colour of Black and White (2003) and ''A Choosing'' (2011). Liz Lochhead also enjoys writing songs and combining poetry with music and she has collaborated with
Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
singer-songwriter
Michael Marra Michael Marra (17 February 1952 – 23 October 2012) was a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician from Dundee, Scotland. Known as the Bard of Dundee, Marra was a solo performer who toured the UK and performed in arts centres, theatres, folk cl ...
to whom she dedicated the poem 'Ira and George'. as well as providing guest vocals on the track 'Trouble is Not a Place' from the 2014 EP ''The Bird That Never Flew'' by Glaswegian experimental hip hop group Hector Bizerk. She has also collaborated extensively with saxophonist Steve Kettley and Dundonian band The Hazey Janes.


Politics

Lochhead is a republican and vocal supporter of
Scottish independence Scottish independence (; ) is the idea of Scotland regaining its independence and once again becoming a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom. The term Scottish independence refers to the political movement that is campaignin ...
, having performed with pro-independence group National Collective, and opined in ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' that
Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the List of national poets, national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the be ...
would have voted for independence. Lochhead is also well known as a feminist, both from her writing and public appearances; she has said in the past, 'feminism is like the hoovering, you just have to keep doing it.' In 2012, Lochhead travelled to Palestine, and was deeply affected by what she saw in the West Bank. She has been a firm opponent of the Israeli occupation, and a supporter of the call for a cultural boycott of Israel. In 2014, she was involved in preparing ''A Bird is Not a Stone'', an anthology of contemporary Palestinian poetry translated into the languages of Scotland. Lochhead is openly critical of Scottish arts funding body
Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( ; ) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the execut ...
.


Honours and awards

In 2005, Lochhead became the Poet Laureate for Glasgow, a position she held until stepping down in 2011, when she was named as the second Scots
Makar A makar () is a term from Scottish literature for a poet or bard, often thought of as a royal court poet. Since the 19th century, the term ''The Makars'' has been specifically used to refer to a number of poets of fifteenth and sixteenth cen ...
, or national poet of Scotland, succeeding Edwin Morgan who had died the previous year. She stepped down from this role in February 2016, and was succeeded by
Jackie Kay Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham A ...
in March 2016. She is currently the Honorary President of the Caledonian Cultural Fellows at
Glasgow Caledonian University Glasgow Caledonian University, informally GCU, Caledonian or Caley (), is a public university in Glasgow, Scotland. It was formed in 1993 by the merger of The Queen's College, Glasgow (founded in 1875) and Glasgow Polytechnic (originally Glasg ...
. and holds honorary doctorates from ten of Scotland's universities. She was writer in residence at
Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design (DJCAD) is part of the University of Dundee in Dundee, Scotland. It is ranked as one of the top schools of art and design in the United Kingdom. History Attempts were made to establish an art sch ...
in 1980 and later at Glasgow University, The University of Edinburgh, Glasgow School of Art, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Eton. In 2014 she was elected a Honorary Fellow of the
Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...
. In 2015 Liz Lochhead was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Lochhead is only the 11th woman to have been awarded the prize since its inception in 1933, and the eighth Scot. A statue of her face was erected at Edinburgh Park, along with those of other famous Scottish poets. The statue contains engravings of her poems. In 2023, at the Book Awards Ceremony in Glasgow, Lochhead was the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award.


Personal life

In 1986, Liz Lochhead married the architect Tom Logan. The couple lived together in Glasgow until his death in 2010. After his death she wrote the poem ''Favourite Place'' about their caravan on the West Coast of Scotland. It ends: :But tonight you are three months dead :and I must pull down the bed and lie in it alone. :Tomorrow, and every day in this place :these words of Sorley MacLean’s will echo through me: :''The world is still beautiful, though you are not in it.'' :And this will not be a consolation :but a further desolation.


Published works

* 1972: ''Memo For Spring''. Reprographia. * 1978: ''Islands''. Print Studio Press. * 1979: ''The Grimm Sisters.'' Coach House Press. * 1999: ''Bagpipe Muzak''. Penguin Books. * 1999: ''Perfect Days''. Nick Hern Books. * 2000: ''Medea''. Nick Hern Books. * 2001: ''Cuba'' (with Gina Moxley). Faber & Faber. * 2002: ''Misery Guts''. Nick Hern Books. * 2003: ''The Colour of Black and White''. Polygon. * 2003: ''Dreaming Frankenstein and Collected Poems, 1967–84''. Polygon. * 2003: ''Thebans''. Nick Hern Books. * 2003: ''True Confessions: And New Cliches''. Polygon. * 2006: ''Good Things''. Nick Hern Books. * 2009: ''Educating Agnes''. Nick Hern Books. * 2009: ''Blood and Ice''. Nick Hern Books. * 2010: ''Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off''. Nick Hern Books. * 2011: ''A Choosing.'' Polygon * 2012: ''Liz Lochhead: Five Plays''. Nick Hern Books.


Radio plays


Reviews

* Mills, Paul (1982), ''The Individual Voice'', which includes a review of ''The Grimm Sisters'', in Murray, Glen (ed.), '' Cencrastus'' No. 8, Spring 1982, pp. 45 & 46,


References


External links

* includes a "Critical Perspective" section
Scottish Poetry Library. Profile of LochheadBBC profile
*National Centre for Early Music �
archive of Mystery Plays
* Scottish Poetry Librarybr>podcast
on the 40th anniversary of ''Memo For Spring'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Lochhead, Liz 1947 births Living people Scottish women poets Scottish women dramatists and playwrights People educated at Dalziel High School Alumni of the Glasgow School of Art Scots Makars People from Wishaw 20th-century Scottish poets 21st-century Scottish poets 21st-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Scottish writers 20th-century Scottish dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Scottish women writers 21st-century Scottish women writers Scottish broadcasters Scottish translators People associated with the University of Glasgow People associated with the University of Edinburgh People associated with the Glasgow School of Art People associated with the University of Dundee Scottish republicans People from Newarthill