We are delighted to announce that the first NAARCA Writing Commission has been awarded to the Glasgow-based Gaelic writer Mairi Macleod, the recipient of the 2022 Young Gaelic Writer Residency at Cove Park, developed in collaboration with, and funded by, Comhairle nan Leabhraichean / The Gaelic Books Council.
Mairi will attend a two-month residency at Saari Residence to support her work and we are grateful to the Kone Foundation for making this opportunity possible.
Mairi will slow travel to Finland and continue to write her first Gaelic children’s novel: a dystopian story set in a near-future Glasgow exploring the loss of nature, justice, and the power of friendship. She will also begin to write the commissioned short fiction story in Gaelic, which will comment on the environmental crisis and be translated to encourage international dialogue and the exchange of ideas across languages.
Image: Mairi Macleod at Cove Park (image courtesy of Mairi Macloed)