Derick Thomson
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Professor Derick S. Thomson (1921-), known as Ruaraidh MacThòmais in his native Scottish Gaelic, is a Scottish poet, publisher, lexicographer, academic and writer. He is originally from Lewis, but has spent much of his life in Glasgow.
He is best known for setting up the publishing house, Gairm, along with its magazine, which was the longest running periodical ever entirely in Scottish Gaelic, running for over fifty years under his editorship.
He is an Honorary President of the Scottish Poetry Library, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the British Academy.
[edit] Life
Thomson is originally from Upper Bayble (Pabail Uarach), in Lewis, the same place that produced two other Gaelic writers of note: Iain Crichton Smith and Anna Frater.
Educated at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, he went onto the Universities of Aberdeen; Cambridge and University College of North Wales, Bangor. He would later teach at Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. He became Professor of Celtic at Glasgow in 1963, and retired in 1991. He was Chairman of the Gaelic Books Council 1968-91; President Scottish Gaelic Texts Society; former member of Scottish Arts Council and was the first recipient of the Ossian Prize in 1974. Professor Thomson was Chairman of the SNP's Gaelic Committee in the Seventies.
He is the author of numerous books including An Introduction to Gaelic Poetry, The Companion to Gaelic Poetry, European Poetry in Gaelic, and collections of Gaelic poetry, including his collected poems Creachadh na Clarsaidh (Plundering of the Harp/clarsach). He also edited The Companion to Gaelic Scotland. His English-Gaelic dictionary came out in 1981, and was for many years the most practical reference of its kind. He has published seven collections of Gaelic poetry, with many English translations, including Meall Garbh/The Rugged Mountain (1995), Smeur an Dochais etc
