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The Orcadian #1
Letters from Hamnavoe
Light wear to the covers. Shipped from the UK in recyclable card packaging.
- GenresNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
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35 people want to read
About the author
George Mackay Brown
184 books100 followersGeorge Mackay Brown, the poet, novelist and dramatist, spent his life living in and documenting the Orkney Isles.
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
A bout of severe measles at the age of 12 became the basis for recurring health problems throughout his life. Uncertain as to his future, he remained in education until 1940, a year which brought with it a growing reality of the war, and the unexpected death of his father. The following year he was diagnosed with (then incurable) Pulmonary Tuberculosis and spent six months in hospital in Kirkwall, Orkney's main town.
Around this time, he began writing poetry, and also prose for the Orkney Herald for which he became Stromness Correspondent, reporting events such as the switching on of the electricity grid in 1947. In 1950 he met the poet Edwin Muir, a fellow Orcadian, who recognised Mackay Brown's talent for writing, and would become his literary tutor and mentor at Newbattle Abbey College, in Midlothian, which he attended in 1951-2. Recurring TB forced Mackay Brown to spend the following year in hospital, but his experience at Newbattle spurred him to apply to Edinburgh University, to read English Literature, returning to do post-graduate work on Gerard Manley Hopkins.
In later life Mackay Brown rarely left Orkney. He turned to writing full-time, publishing his first collection of poetry, The Storm, in 1954. His writing explored life on Orkney, and the history and traditions which make up Orkney's distinct cultural identity. Many of his works are concerned with protecting Orkney's cultural heritage from the relentless march of progress and the loss of myth and archaic ritual in the modern world. Reflecting this, his best known work is Greenvoe (1972), in which the permanence of island life is threatened by 'Black Star', a mysterious nuclear development.
Mackay Brown's literary reputation grew steadily. He received an OBE in 1974 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1977, in addition to gaining several honorary degrees. His final novel, Beside the Ocean of Time (1994) was Booker Prize shortlisted and judged Scottish Book of the Year by the Saltire Society. Mackay Brown died in his home town of Stromness on 13th April 1996.
He produced several poetry collections, five novels, eight collections of short stories and two poem-plays, as well as non-fiction portraits of Orkney, an autobiography, For the Islands I Sing (1997), and published journalism.
Read more at:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org....
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 27, 2021
I really enjoyed hearing so much about Orkney, from an Orkneyman’s perspective & catching a glimpse into its, albeit recent, history as well as the flow of the seasons. I also loved being able to see more of GMB, he presents so much of himself into his stories & yet so little too. There is some repetition (writing a regular column over the years will do that though) particularly around the names of places, tourists, shopping week, the Dounby show & occupations that have disappeared as we have “progressed”. But I was delighted to see we agreed on quite a few subjects - street lighting is far too bright, there’s nothing like homebrew, daffodils brighten the heart, Stromness streets are wonderful.
October 8, 2025
Fascinating glimpse into day-to-day life in Stromness as Orkney fully modernized in the 70s. Substantial "old man yelling at cloud" energy here, yet I found myself agreeing with most of the points made. Unsurprisingly for a weekly column, some letters were stronger than others, but in general all were informative and well written, and even beautifully written at times. Love GMB.
"Immense tides of light and darkness are woven into our existence...The sound of the sea is everywhere."
"Immense tides of light and darkness are woven into our existence...The sound of the sea is everywhere."
January 12, 2012
So closely tied to Orkney have I been and for so long, it is no short short of a travesty that my relationship with George Mackay Brown began in the fall of 2011 an unacceptable 15 years after his death. My mother had diligently and unsuccessfully attempted to instill a passion in me for Mackay Brown and indeed many Orkney authors, yet I remained steadfast in my position that I was not to be so easily influenced. Now after reading Letters From Hamnavoe I am laden with a hairshirt of missed opportunities I will forever carry.
To say Letters From Hamnavoe is a beautiful collection is to rob it of its place in my opinion as containing some of the most serenely consumable and downright lovely passages ever written. I must admit that the pictures Mackay Brown crafts through language treacle thick with imagery may be more profound to those familiar with the winding, cobblestone streets of the sixteenth century village of Hamnavoe now known as Stromness. However, I feel that anyone can appreciate this world as seen through the eyes of simple man, with simple tastes, who loved with unequaled passion from who and where he came. With Steinbeckian precision, Mackay Brown turns the mundane into the vivacious and the simple into the infinitely complex. This is a must-read and will forever be one of my very favorites.
To say Letters From Hamnavoe is a beautiful collection is to rob it of its place in my opinion as containing some of the most serenely consumable and downright lovely passages ever written. I must admit that the pictures Mackay Brown crafts through language treacle thick with imagery may be more profound to those familiar with the winding, cobblestone streets of the sixteenth century village of Hamnavoe now known as Stromness. However, I feel that anyone can appreciate this world as seen through the eyes of simple man, with simple tastes, who loved with unequaled passion from who and where he came. With Steinbeckian precision, Mackay Brown turns the mundane into the vivacious and the simple into the infinitely complex. This is a must-read and will forever be one of my very favorites.
July 29, 2016
This is the first of three collections of GMB's weekly contributions to The Orcadian. Often they are distilled versions of his short stories and novels dealing with themes of time, light and dark, and the threat of 'progress'. All attached to some local event or observation of that week. It's like dipping into a different world. I must have read this book at least three times.
August 9, 2012
Excellent collection of George Mackay Brown's weekly columns from his local paper The Orcadian, covering the period of the early 70s.
August 10, 2012
A must for all GMB fans; when reading this, GMBs literal Orkney shines so strongly that it sheds new light on his metaphorical one.
October 26, 2017
Lyrical and just a delight to read.
'......the imagination lives to weave marvellous things from every windblown gossamer thread'
'......the imagination lives to weave marvellous things from every windblown gossamer thread'
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews