Gaelic, Scots, Mè’phàà: Translation Beyond Dominant Languages

Colin Bramwell’s Fower Pessoas, shortlisted for the Scots Book o the Year Award 2025, has recently been making waves for its bold translation of Fernando Pessoa into vernacular Scots. The book joins a vibrant history of translation into Scotland’s languages – with Edwin Morgan’s work a particular touchstone – but it’s a history that’s often forgotten. What possibilities emerge when we remember that living literary languages aren’t just written in, but necessarily translated between? Join Colin, Gaelic poet and translator Robbie MacLeòid, and Juana Adcock, whose translation work includes indigenous Mexican languages, for a discussion chaired by Harry Josephine Giles, as they explore the connections and conversations enabled by translating into and out of minoritised languages.