Iain Crichton Smith

Born on the Isle of Lewis in 1928, Iain Crichton Smith was educated there and at the University of Aberdeen. He published many collections of acclaimed verse, short stories and plays (some in Gaelic). A spell of National Service in the fifties he worked as an English teacher until his retirement in 1977. He was the recipient of many literary prizes, Scottish Arts Council Awards and fellowships, as well as the Queen's Jubilee Medal and an OBE. He died in 1998.