Heritage book to be launched at library
A new book exploring part of Shetland’s heritage and culture will be launched at the Shetland Library on Tuesday 29th July.
Vod is a colourful montage of photographs of Shetland’s abandoned crofthouses, with poems by Christine De Luca.
The selection of crofthouses, 38 in all, are in a variety of locations ranging from Unst to Fair Isle and from Foula to Skerries.
Each is accompanied by a short poem in Shaetlan (with an English version) evoking something of the individuality of the place and of the people who lived there.
All the crofts can be found using the OS grid references, and explanations are also given about the derivations of the fascinating place-names.
At the launch, which is due to begin at 7pm, poems will be read in both in Shaetlan and in French from De Luca’s recent bilingual collection Whit ails, whit heals Ce qui afflige, ce qui apaise – when she will be accompanied by her translator, Jean-Yves Le Disez.
The event, which will also include a few tunes from Claire White, is free and open to all.
De Luca, who spent her formative years in Walls, is well-known as both a Shetland and Scottish poet and novelist.
She lives in Edinburgh and was appointed Edinburgh's Makar (laureate) for 2014-2017.
She has had eight collections of poetry published, as well as bilingual collections in French, Italian, Icelandic, Norwegian and in English.
De Luca is a member of Shetland ForWirds and a keen advocate of the Shaetlan tongue.