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 is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
to Maggie Gold and her husband, plumber William Annand, He was educated at
Broughton Secondary School, and graduated from the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
in 1930. He later taught at schools in Edinburgh and
Whithorn. He also translated poetry and fiction from German and medieval Latin into
Scots. His adult poems include translations of
Bavarian folksongs and of ''
Carmina Burana''.
In 1925, Annand wrote a review of
Hugh MacDiarmid's seminal publication ''Sangshaw'' and he worked with MacDiarmid on the establishment of Scottish PEN in 1927.
[ Purves, David, "J.K. Annand: A Makkar tae Mynd", Obituary, in Renton, Jennie (ed.), ''Scottish Book Collector'', Volume 3, Number 12, August - September 1993, Edinburgh, p. 33]
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, Annand served in the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, taking part in the
Murmansk
Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...
convoys.
He was a strong supporter of the
Scottish Youth Hostel Association and his experiences as a hill walker and in the war at sea inspired many of his poems published in newspapers and magazines and later collected in his ''Two Voices'' (1968). His bairnrhymes were influenced by the children's poetry in Scots written by
William Soutar.
Annand was a founder member of
Scots Language Society in 1972 and the founding editor of ''
Lallans'', 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.
* 1979 -
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council (), was a Scottish public body responsible for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland. The Council primarily distributed funding from the Scottish Government as well as National Lottery funds ...
special award for his contribution to Scottish Poetry.
* 1993 - Posthumous
MBE for his services to
Scots Language and Literature.
* 2008 - Commemorative stone in the
Makars' Court
* 2015 - Posthumous award of the Arctic Star for his war service in the Royal Navy during WW2
Further reading
* Campbell, Janet, "The Bairn Rhymes of J.K. Annand", in
Glen, Duncan (ed.) ''Akros'' No. 26.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Annand, J. K.
1908 births
1993 deaths
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Scots-language poets
Lallans poets
British children's poets
Scots Makars
Scottish male poets
Scots language activists
Scottish children's writers
Scottish magazine editors
Writers from Edinburgh
20th-century Scottish poets
20th-century Scottish male writers