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Jackie Kay
Jacqueline Margaret Kay (born 9 November 1961) is a Scottish poet, playwright, and novelist, known for her works ''Other Lovers'' (1993), ''Trumpet'' (1998) and ''Red Dust Road'' (2011). Kay has won many awards, including the Somerset Maugham Award in 1994, the Guardian Fiction Prize in 1998 and the Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book Awards, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust Book of the Year Award in 2011. From 2016 to 2021, Jackie Kay was the Makar (National Poet for Scotland), Makar, the poet laureate of Scotland. She was Chancellor (education), Chancellor of the University of Salford between 2015 and 2022. Early life and education Jackie Kay was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1961, to a Scottish mother and a Nigerians, Nigerian father. She was adoption, adopted as a baby by a white Scottish couple, Helen and John Kay, and grew up in Bishopbriggs, a suburb of Glasgow. They adopted Jackie in 1961, having already adopted her brother, Maxwell, about two years earlier. Jac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Makar (National Poet For Scotland)
The Makar is the national poet of Scotland which was established in February 2004 by the Scottish Executive and supported by Creative Scotland. The incumbent Makar serves a maximum term of three years which is non–renewable, and has overall responsibility for the promotion of literacy, poetry and writing across the country, as well as producing annual reports for both the Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament. The current Makar is Pàdraig MacAoidh, who was appointed in December 2024 by First Minister of Scotland, first minister John Swinney. Holders of the post are appointed by the Scottish Government and supported by the Scottish Poetry Library, which celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2024. History The position of Makar, also known in English as "National Poet for Scotland", was created in February 2004 by the Scottish Government under then first minister Jack McConnell. The government was supported by Creative Scotland in the establishment of the position. Speaking ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom and the 27th-most-populous city in Europe, and comprises Wards of Glasgow, 23 wards which represent the areas of the city within Glasgow City Council. Glasgow is a leading city in Scotland for finance, shopping, industry, culture and fashion, and was commonly referred to as the "second city of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian eras. In , it had an estimated population as a defined locality of . More than 1,000,000 people live in the Greater Glasgow contiguous urban area, while the wider Glasgow City Region is home to more than 1,800,000 people (its defined functional urban area total was almost the same in 2020), around a third of Scotland's population. The city has a population density of 3,562 p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith (April 15, 1892 – September 26, 1937) was an African-American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Empress of the Blues" and formerly Queen of the Blues, she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, she is often regarded as one of the greatest singers of her era and was a major influence on fellow blues singers, as well as jazz vocalists. Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Smith was young when her parents died, and she and her six siblings survived by performing on street corners. She began touring and performed in a group that included Ma Rainey, and then went out on her own. Her successful recording career with Columbia Records began in 1923, but her performing career was cut short by a car crash that killed her at the age of 45. Biography Early life The 1900 census indicates that her family reported that Bessie Smith was bor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Tipton
Billy Lee Tipton (December 29, 1914 – January 21, 1989) was an American jazz musician, bandleader, and talent broker. He is notable for having been posthumously outed as a transgender man. Tipton's music career began in the mid-1930s when he led a band for radio broadcasts. He played in various dance bands in the 1940s and recorded two trio albums for a small record label in the mid-1950s. Thereafter, he worked as a talent broker. He stopped performing in the late 1970s due to arthritis. Tipton lived and identified as male for most of his adult life. After his death in 1989, paramedics discovered he was assigned female at birth, to the surprise of his friends and family. Tabloids and national newspapers picked up the story, scandalously reporting that "he was a she". Tipton is considered a prominent figure in transgender history in the United States. His story inspired various fictional retellings, including the 1998 novel ''Trumpet'', and a 2020 documentary film, '' No Or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle. Someone's sexual orientation is their pattern of sexual interest in the opposite and/or same sex. Physical and emotional aspects of sexuality include bonds between individuals that are expressed through profound feelings or physical manifestations of love, trust, and care. Social aspects deal with the effects of human society on one's sexuality, while spirituality concerns an individual's spiritual connection with others. Sexuality also affects and is affected by cultural, political, legal, philosophical, moral, ethical, and religi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gender
Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other than their sex assigned at birth. Most cultures use a gender binary, in which gender is divided into two categories, and people are considered part of one or the other;Kevin L. Nadal, ''The Sage Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender'' (2017, ), p. 401: "Most cultures currently construct their societies based on the understanding of gender binary—the two gender categorizations (male and female). Such societies divide their population based on biological sex assigned to individuals at birth to begin the process of gender socialization." those who are outside these groups may fall under the umbrella term '' non-binary''. Some societies have ''third genders'' (and ''fourth genders'', etc.) such as the hijras of South Asia and two-spirit per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saltire Society Literary Awards
Scotland's National Book Awards, formerly known as the Saltire Society Literary Awards, are made annually by the Saltire Society. First awarded in 1937, they are awarded for books by Scottish authors or about Scotland, and are awarded in several categories. History The first Saltire Society Book Award was given in 1937, the year after the Saltire Society was established. No awards were given after 1939 due to the Second World War, and the next award was made 1956. The History Book of the Year award was inaugurated in 1965. In 1982 sponsorship was obtained and since then the awards have been made annually. First books have been recognised since 1988, and in 1998 the award for Scottish Research Book of the Year was established. Until around 2021, the awards were known as the Saltire Society Literary Awards, subtitled Scotland's National Book Awards, but then took on the subtitle as the name covering all of the literary awards that the society awards: Scotland's National Book Award ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 organises lectures and publishes pamphlets, and presents a series of awards in the fields of art, architecture, literature and history. History The society was founded on 22 April 1936 in Glasgow, conceived by Andrew Dewar Gibb and George Malcolm Thomson, at which time the annual subscription cost five shillings. The society was "set up to promote and celebrate the uniqueness of Scottish culture and Scotland's heritage, and to reclaim Scotland's place as a distinct contributor to European and international culture". By the early 1950s, the society had almost 2000 members. In 1954 they launched a literary magazine, ''The Scots Review'', published three times a year. In 1968 the society appointed their first full-time director, based at their headquarters at Gladstone's Land in Edinburgh. In 2001, the Saltire Society's hea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alasdair Gray
Alasdair James Gray (28 December 1934 – 29 December 2019) was a Scottish writer and artist. His first novel, ''Lanark'' (1981), is seen as a landmark of Scottish fiction. He published novels, short stories, plays, poetry and translations, and wrote on politics and the history of English and Scots literature. His works of fiction combine realism, fantasy, and science fiction with the use of his own typography and illustrations, and won several awards. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1952 to 1957. As well as his book illustrations, he painted portraits and murals, including one at the Òran Mór venue and one at Hillhead subway station. His artwork has been widely exhibited and is in several important collections. Before ''Lanark'', he had plays performed on radio and TV. His writing style is postmodern and has been compared with those of Franz Kafka, George Orwell, Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. It often contains extensive footnotes explaining the works th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The House I Grew Up In
''The House I Grew Up In'' is a BBC Radio series. The first episode of the first series was broadcast on 6 August 2007 on BBC Radio 4. With the presenter Wendy Robbins, each week an influential Briton explains some of their thoughts and memories as he or she goes back to the locality and the house (or houses) in which he or she was brought up. In July 2011, BBC Radio 4 began publishing podcastfeaturing highlights of previous programmes, as well as the 2011 series. Episodes Series 1 (2007) Four episodes: # Peter Hennessy, 6 August # Jacqueline Gold, 13 August # Ian Paisley Jr, 20 August # Jackie Kay, 27 August Series 2 (2008) Six episodes: # Sir Tom Farmer, 6 August # Professor Mona Siddiqui, 13 August # David Blunkett, 20 August # Joanna Briscoe, 27 August # Shaun Bailey, 3 September # Baroness Warnock, 17 September Series 3 (2009) Five episodes: # Baroness Campbell, 1 September # Professor Steve Jones, 8 September # Erin Pizzey, 15 September # Kwame Kwei-Armah, 22 Sept ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Le Carré
David John Moore Cornwell (19 October 193112 December 2020), better known by his pen name John le Carré ( ), was a British author, best known for his espionage novels, many of which were successfully adapted for film or television. A "sophisticated, morally ambiguous writer", he is considered one of the greatest novelists of the postwar era. During the 1950s and 1960s, he worked for both the Security Service (MI5) and the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6). Near the end of his life, le Carré became an Irish citizen. Le Carré's third novel, ''The Spy Who Came in from the Cold'' (1963), became an international best-seller, was adapted as an award-winning film, and remains one of his best-known works. This success allowed him to leave MI6 to become a full-time author. His other novels that have been adapted for film or television include '' The Looking Glass War'' (1965), '' Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy'' (1974), '' Smiley's People'' (1979), '' The Little Drummer Girl'' (1983), '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Racism
Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against other people because they are of a different ethnic background. Modern variants of racism are often based in social perceptions of biological differences between peoples. These views can take the form of social actions, practices or beliefs, or political systems in which different races are ranked as inherently superior or inferior to each other, based on presumed shared inheritable traits, abilities, or qualities. There have been attempts to legitimize racist beliefs through scientific means, such as scientific racism, which have been overwhelmingly shown to be unfounded. In terms of political systems (e.g. apartheid) that support the expression of prejudice or aversion in discri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
