Marcas Mac an Tuairneir

Award-winning poet, singer-songwriter, translator and editor Marcas Mac an Tuairneir is based in Edinburgh and works in Scottish Gaelic, English, Irish and Polari. He is the author of four poetry collections and a co-authored pamphlet, as well as being the editor of a number of anthologies. These include Dùileach (Evertype, 2021) and Polaris (Leamington Books, 2022) which went on to be shortlisted for the Gaelic Books Council’s Derick Thomson Prize, in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The latter was also shortlisted for the Saltire Society’s Scottish poetry Book of the Year in 2022 and a Saboteur Award for Best Collaborative Work in 2023. Marcas’ poetry, drama, critical writing and songs have been consistently lauded at the Royal National Mòd. There, in 2023, he was most recently awarded the Gold Medal for poetry. he won the Gaelic Poetry prize at Wigtown Book Festival in 2017, and has appeared on that shortlist six times. In 2024, Marcas became the first poet to have separate poems feature on the shortlists of the International and Gaelic connections, there. His was the first film-poem, 'An Leabhar II' to feature in the Scottish Poetry Library's 'Best Scottish Poems' in 2021. Marcas’ next publication was Cruinneachadh (Drunk Muse Press, 2023), an anthology of poetries from across the North Atlantic Archipelago and Europe, translated for the first time. His latest volume, Teisteanasan, includes Gaelic translations of the poetry of Anton Floyd (Cló Doire, 2024). Formerly the inaugural Gaelic Service Development Officer at Scottish Poetry Library, Marcas is currently the Makar of the Federation of Writers (Scotland), Poet-in-residence at the Balmoral Hotel, Gaelic Editor of Northwords Now and the Gaelic Tutor for Lothian Gaelic Choir.