2011 Brownsbank Retreats
click here for details
Proposals are invited from individuals living in Scotland who write in any form, including prose (fiction and non-fiction), poetry or drama.
Each writer will be provided with a stipend of £750 per month to a maximum of £3,000, accommodation in the Cottage, the support of Brownsbank Committee members and access to Biggar Museums Trust facilities.
Welcome Walcome Fàilte
You have reached Brownsbank Cottage, the farm labourer's cottage at Candy Mill in South Lanarkshire which was the home of Hugh MacDiarmid from 1951 to 1978.
Hugh MacDiarmid - the central figure in the Scottish Literary Renaissance
Few people would question MacDiarmid’s key role in the Scottish Literary Renaissance of the 1920s. His rebelliously controversial statements about Scottish culture and identity gave a dynamic new perspective on the nation’s arts, politics, education and philosophy. Frequently accused of egotism and eccentricity, he had a galvanising impact on the cultural life of Scotland - and maintained always a total lack of concern about contradicting himself!
Some critics say his early lyrics are his finest work, while his epic poem ‘A Drunk Man Looks at the Thistle’ (1926) is one of the great poems of Modernist literature.
Brownsbank Cottage
In 1951, MacDiarmid’s publisher, William MacLellan, introduced the poet to Thomas Tweedie, the owner of Brownsbank Farm. Thanks to the Tweedie family, the Grieves lived rent-free at Brownsbank for the rest of their lives.
While most of the great writing had been done before they moved to Brownsbank, many works, including ‘In Memoriam James Joyce’ and his ‘Collected Poems’ were published while he and his wife Valda stayed there.
From Brownsbank, he went on many world-wide journeys and the world also came to visit him. While his friends, the poets Norman MacCaig, Sorley MacLean, Duncan Glen, the composer Ronald Stevenson and others were regular visitors, he also entertained many visitors from furth of Scotland, including Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Allen Ginsberg, Seamus Heaney, composer Alan Bush and concert pianist John Ogdon.
The Brownsbank Committee
Biggar Museums Trust purchased Brownsbank Cottage following the death of MacDiarmid’s widow, Valda Trevlyn, in 1989 and established a Brownsbank Committee to administer it. The Brownsbank Committee continues to be responsible for the maintenance of the cottage. All the contents have been catalogued and the cottage, its gardens and outbuildings are all maintained by Biggar Museum Trust volunteers. Visitors are welcome by appointment.
The Brownsbank Committee is also charged with ensuring Brownsbank Cottage remains a centre of literary activity, and has since 1993 maintained a writing residency – the Brownsbank Fellowship – in association with the Scottish Arts Council and South Lanarkshire Council.
The Brownsbank Writing Fellowship
Supported by the Scottish Arts Council and South Lanarkshire Council, the Brownsbank Fellowship operated from 1993 to 2010, when local authority financial cuts led to SLC withdrawing its support. The Fellowship was open to any writer, whose remit was to provide 18.5 hours per week to support writing in the community. The SAC funding in the package enabled the writer to pursue his/her own work. Seven writers held the Fellowship: James Robertson, Matthew Fitt, Gerry Cambridge, Aonghas MacNeacail, Linda Cracknell, Tom Bryan and Carl MacDougall.
