James King Annand MBE (2 February 1908 – 8 June 1993) was a Scottish poet best known for his children's poems.

Biography

Born at

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

to Maggie Gold and her husband, plumber William Annand, He was educated at Broughton Secondary School, and he graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

in 1930. He later taught at schools in Edinburgh and

Whithorn Whithorn ( �ʍɪthorn 'HWIT-horn'; ''Taigh Mhàrtainn'' in Gaelic), is a royal burgh in the historic county of Wigtownshire in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about south of Wigtown. The town was the location of the first recorded Christia ...

. Annand also translated poetry and fiction from German and medieval Latin into Scots. He was the founding editor of ''

Lallans Lallans (; a variant of the Modern Scots word ''lawlands'' meaning the lowlands of Scotland), is a term that was traditionally used to refer to the Scots language as a whole. However, more recent interpretations assume it refers to the dialects o ...

'', a magazine for writing in Scots published by the Scots Language Society, from 1973 to 1983. HIs poem 'Arctic Convoy' won the 1956 prize for Best Original Poem in the Scottish Dialect of the Burns Federation He died in Edinburgh in 1993.

Collections of children's poetry

* ''Sing it Aince for Pleisure'' (1970) * ''Twice for Joy'' (1973) * ''Thrice to Show Ye'' (1979) * ''A Wale o Rhymes'' (1989); reissued in 1998 as ''Bairn Rhymes''

Other works

* ''Two Voices'' (1968) * ''Poems and translations'' (1975) * ''Songs from Carmina burana'' (1978) * ''A Scots handsel'' (1980) * ''Selected Poems, 1925-1990'' (1992)

Recognition

* 1958 - chairman of the Edinburgh Branch of the

Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland. Founded in 1936, the society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland’s ...

. * 1979 -

Scottish Arts Council The Scottish Arts Council ( gd, Comhairle Ealain na h-Alba, sco, Scots Airts Cooncil) was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the ...

special award for his contribution to Scottish Poetry. * 1993 - Posthumous MBE for his services to

Scots Language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonl ...

and Literature. * 2008 - Commemorative stone in the

Makars' Court Makars' Court is a courtyard in central Edinburgh, Scotland. It forms part of Lady Stair's Close, which connects the Lawnmarket with The Mound to the north, and is next to the Writers' Museum. Described as an "evolving national literary monumen ...

* 2015 - Posthumous award of the Arctic Star for his war service in the Royal Navy during WW2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Annand, J. K. 1908 births 1993 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Lallans poets Scots Makars Members of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Scottish poets Scottish male poets 20th-century British male writers 20th-century British writers