Stella Sutherland (7 October 1924 – 15 October 2015) was one of the

Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...

writers of the later 20th and early 21st century. Best known for poetry in both English and

Shetland dialect Shetland dialect (also variously known as Shetlandic; broad or auld Shetland or Shaetlan; and referred to as Modern Shetlandic Scots (MSS) by some linguists) is a dialect of Insular Scots spoken in Shetland, an archipelago to the north of m ...

, she also contributed articles and short stories to local magazines, especially

The New Shetlander ''The New Shetlander'' is Scotland's longest-running literary magazine, founded in 1947, and edited originally by Peter Jamieson. Since 1956 it has been published by Shetland Council of Social Service and its successor Voluntary Action Shetland. ...

Biography

Sutherland was born in

Bressay Bressay ( sco, Bressa) is a populated island in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland. Geography and geology Bressay lies due south of Whalsay, west of the Isle of Noss, and north of Mousa. With an area of , it is the fifth-largest island in She ...

in 1924. Her early years were spent in Sandwick, on the Shetland mainland, her teenage years in the island of

Foula Foula (; sco, also Foola; nrn, Fuglø), located in the Shetland archipelago of Scotland, is one of the United Kingdom’s most remote permanently inhabited islands. Owned since the turn of the 20th century by the Holbourn family, the island wa ...

. As a young woman she worked in

Lerwick Lerwick (; non, Leirvik; nrn, Larvik) is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010. Centred off the north coast of the Scottish mainland ...

, before her marriage in 1949 to Bressay farmer Laurence Sutherland. She died in Lerwick on 15 October 2015.

Publications

Sutherland was an early contributor to ''

'', and many of her articles, stories, and uncollected poems can be found in the pages of that magazine, and in the later monthly ''Shetland Life''. Poems by her appear in several anthologies: ''Nordern Lights'' (1964, Zetland County Council Education Committee); John and Laurence Graham's ''A Shetland Anthology'' (1998).; Swedish poet Håkon Anderson's ''Landskapets lycka: Vandringar och poesi i brittiska landskap'' (2005).; ''Bright pebbles'' (2010, Shetland Islands Council); ''These islands, we sing'' (2011, Polygon). Published collections are: ''Aa my Selves'' (1980, Shetland Times) ''A Celebration and other poems'' (1991, the author) ''Joy o creation'' (2008, Hansel Cooperative Press) (reviewed here, and the source of a 'Poem of the Week' in the ''Scotsman''). The Yule 2012 issue of The New Shetlander featured a CD celebrating "the work of one of Shetland’s best poets: a compilation of poems and stories, on archive tracks and new recordings, read by Stella and friends." Other audio clips can be found on the websites of the Shetland Library and Shetland ForWirds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Stella Shetland poets Shetland writers 1924 births 2015 deaths People from Shetland Scottish short story writers 20th-century Scottish poets 21st-century Scottish poets 20th-century British short story writers 21st-century British short story writers