Famous Scots from Orkney

Edwin Muir 1887 - 1959
Edwin Muir was born and brought up in Orkney. At Fourteen he was forced to leave the Island when his family moved to Glasgow. Within four years he had lost both his parents and five of his siblings which only served to increase the Gulf between him and his "Eden", Orkney. He married and moved to London where he began to write. His psychological distress affected his work greatly and he began to write as he saw life, re-enacting fable with much parody. He later became Warden of Newbattle Abbey College, near Edinburgh, where he found peace by inspiring the adult students. "The complete poems of Edwin Muir" was published in 1991.

Eric Linklater 1899 - 1974
Eric Linklater was actually born in Penrath in Wales, however, he led people to believe he had been born in Dounby, Orkney. His family moved to Orkney when he was young and he always regarded the isles as his spiritual home. He is regarded as one of the most versatile novelists of the mid-century, writing poetry, historical novels and fictional novels. His most well known novels include "Juan in America", "Magnus Merriman" and "The Lion and the Unicorn". His autobiographies include "A year in Space" and "Fanfare for a Tin Hat". Eric Linklater is buried is St Michael's churchyard in Harray, Orkney.

George MacKay Brown 1921 - 1996
George MacKay Brown was born in the harbour town of Stromness. He went to school there and then for over 10 years he occupied himself with reading, writing poems and contributing to the local newspaper. In 1951 he moved to Edinburgh to study at Newbattle Abbey College where fellow Orcadian, Edwin Muir was the Warden. Edwin Muir influenced his writing greatly and helped to get his first collection of poems published as "Loaves and Fishes" in 1959. MacKay Brown returned to Stromness to continue writing and rarely left the Island again. His work was influenced by his surroundings, the History of the Islands and by Norse folklore. His novels include "Greenvoe", "Magnus" and "An Orkney Tapestry".

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies 1934 - 
Although he is originally from Manchester, he has lived on Hoy in the Orkney Islands since 1970 and has composed the majority of his work from there. He has been greatly influenced by his surroundings and he frequently draws on Orcadian and Scottish subject matter for his music. He has also been significantly influenced by George MacKay Brown. With two hundred published works in every medium, he is universally regarded as one of the foremost composers of our time.