A writer from Tiree was bestowed with the distinguished “Bardic Crown” yesterday.
Floraidh MacPhail was named as the new bard at the Royal National Mod in Oban by organisers An Comunn Gaidhealach.
The honorary role lasts for four years and Mrs MacPhail takes over from Lewis MacKinnon of Nova Scotia, who was the first bard to be appointed from across the Atlantic.
John Macleod, president of An Comunn, said: “She is a skilled writer who has been writing for many years, however her first collection wasn’t published until 2012.
“We have had 55 bards and there have only been five women on that list so far. An Comunn is delighted to add Floraidh MacPhail’s name to that list.”
She and her son Angus MacPhail, of famous ceilidh band Skipinnish, won the new song competition Oran Ur at the Western Isles Mod in 2001.
Mrs MacPhail wrote the words to Maraiche nan Cuantan, or Sailor of the Seas, while her son wrote the tune. Mr Macleod described it as a “beautiful” song.
She said: “I’m grateful that people seem to get some pleasure from my writing. I write randomly, I don’t write to order. When the spirit moves.
“Deep sadness, rage, delight and a sense of fun all inspire me to write.”
She joked: “I was going through the duties of the ancient bards and they had the power to write satirical verse if anyone annoyed them. So I have warned people to be very nice to me and very flattering otherwise they run the risk of being satirised in verse.”
Mrs MacPhail taught both Gaelic and English at schools in Glasgow and Inverness before returning to Tiree in the 1970s.
When Gaelic medium education came to Tiree in the 1990s she returned to college to get a diploma in primary education in order to teach Gaelic to young people on the island.