Scottish writer Donald S Murray says he is thrilled and honoured to be awarded a fellowship in Dunedin next year.
“It offers a new perspective on seeing the world, a different view from any I would have imagined ever glimpsing before,” Donald says.
Donald has received the 2026 Scottish Writing Fellowship with Mātai Airana, Mātai Kotirana – the Centre for Irish and Scottish Studies (CISS), in conjunction with the Caselberg Trust. He will be in the position in August and September 2026.
Stuart Chair in Scottish Studies and Director of CISS, Professor Liam McIlvanney, says he is hugely excited at the appointment.
“I can’t wait to welcome Donald S Murray to Ōtepoti. Whether in poems, novels, plays or non-fiction, it is the humanity and craft of Donald’s work that shines through.
“To have a writer and teacher of Donald’s range, experience and accomplishment with us in Dunedin will be a tremendous boon to our students and indeed to the wider community.
“I have no doubt, too, that, as a native speaker of Gaelic, Donald will be keen to kōrero with tangata whenua on issues of shared concern such as language revitalisation.”
Liam say it is thanks to the generosity of the Stuart Residence Halls Council that they can offer this Fellowship, and he is deeply grateful for the support.
Now a full-time writer living in Shetland, Donald was raised in the Ness district of the Isle of Lewis, where he sees some similarities with New Zealand.
“As an islander from Scotland, surrounded for much of my life by the ocean, its force and fury occasionally preventing me from leaving the shores of my home, I know that my past life will have something in common with those that live in New Zealand.
“There will be much too, however, that is different and unusual, granting me additional and exciting insights I would never have imagined possessing before.”
Donald has written a range of books and published a wide variety of essays, columns, short stories, and poems in the likes of The Herald, The Guardian, and The Island Review.
His writing, both of fiction and non-fiction, has received widespread critical acclaim and appeared on shortlists and longlists for numerous literary awards.
His debut novel, As the Women Lay Dreaming, won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize in 2020. In 2015, Donald’s first full-length Gaelic play Sequamur examined the effect of World War I on The Nicolson Institute in Stornoway and is now part of the Scottish school curriculum for senior pupils.
His latest work is the poetry collection Tales of a Cosmic Crofter, which is hailed as an “instant classic” by reviewer David Mark Williams for leading UK poetry webzine The Lake.
“These poems fizz with invention and all the verve and colour of a graphic novel,” writes Williams.
As a native Gaelic speaker, Donald can often be heard on BBC Radio nan Gaidheal. He has also appeared on TV, on BBC Four’s Birds Britannia, a series looking at the different birds that live in the UK, and on The Last Seabird Summer, which examined the decline of seabirds in the North Atlantic.
Donald has not visited New Zealand before, but there are connections.
“In my childhood, I recall many of the neighbours in my village of South Dell and local district of Ness in the Isle of Lewis speaking about their time in New Zealand.”
“My imagination has visited New Zealand and Dunedin many times, especially after listening to conversations, even on a few occasions from my uncle’s lips. He was a merchant seaman who visited New Zealand frequently in his early life.”
Donald’s wife will be joining him on this visit – she is from Shetland and looks forward to connecting with cousins who live in New Zealand.
They will be residents of Caselberg House, Whaka Oho Rahi - Broad Bay. This former home of the late Anna and John Caselberg was purchased by the Caselberg Trust in 2006 to honour their artistic and literary legacy. Since 2019, the Trust has partnered with CISS to host the Scottish and Irish Writing Fellows.
As to his plans during the Fellowship, Donald says, “There are one or two ideas – one that I began writing about a few years ago – which I intend to explore while in New Zealand. It offers a wonderful and remarkable opportunity to do this. I am also acutely aware that new and original thoughts will come to mind.”
The Fellow also mentors tauira and gives some lectures during their tenure. As an English teacher for 30 years and with experience teaching writing and play workshops, Donald is looking forward to this aspect of the Fellowship.
The CISS Scottish Writing Fellowship and the CISS Irish Writing Fellowship have been offered in alternate years since 2020. The two-month fellowships are open to writers of Irish or Scottish birth, residence or affiliation, and designed to facilitate and encourage literary and cultural exchange between Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand.
– Nā Antonia Wallace, Kaitaraki Pārokoroko – Communications Advisor
Originally posted on Otago Newsroom.
