Laurence I. "Lollie" Graham (1924–2008) was an

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

and

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

from

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Born in Stromfirth,

Shetland Shetland (until 1975 spelled Zetland), also called the Shetland Islands, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway, marking the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the ...

, in 1924. The Graham family moved to one of the new croft holdings at Veensgarth, Tingwall and Graham lived there until he died. He had been a part-time

crofter A croft is a traditional Scottish term for a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable, and usually, but not always, with a crofter's dwelling thereon. A crofter is one who has tenure and use of the land, typically as a ten ...

most of his life, and active in local politics. After

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 ...

, Graham studied at 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 ...

and Moray House College,

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 ...

, during which time he was active in literary circles and co-edited a volume of Scottish student verse. He returned to Shetland to take up a teaching post and taught at the Anderson Educational Institute and the

Scalloway Scalloway (, name of the bay) is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, Shetland, Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. Now a fishing port, u ...

Junior High School. He was also headmaster at Urafirth Primary School and latterly the long-term and much loved headmaster of Gott Primary School. He contributed biographical sketches to the important textbook '' The Shetland Book'' (1967), edited by Andrew T. Cluness. Graham provided an introduction and a commentary to ''Shetland Poetry - a recital'' in 1950, arranged by himself, his brother John J. Graham, and T. A. Robertson ( Vagaland), with assistance from A. T. Cluness in selecting the poems. The text included a translation into Danish by Martin Melsted of an article by William J. Tait on Shetland language and

literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially novels, Play (theatre), plays, and poetry, poems. It includes both print and Electroni ...

. He was Joint Editor of '' The New Shetlander'' from 1956 till 1988 along with his brother, the novelist John J. Graham. He was editor of ''Shetland Crofters'' (1986), co-editor with Brian Smith of ''MacDiarmid in Shetland'', a fine collection of essays on Hugh MacDiarmid published to coincide with the centenary of the birth of this eminent Whalsay resident in 1992, Hjaltland (1993), and '' A Shetland Anthology'' (1998). In 2000, the Shetland Library published his selected poems in '' Love's Laebrack Sang'', a volume which demonstrates Graham as both a committed political poet, engaged in making response to the public events of the day via satire, and a Shetland poet with a deep love of his community and its history. Lollie Graham's oldest daughter is the artist Ruth Graham.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Laurence People from Shetland 1924 births 2008 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish schoolteachers Scottish non-fiction writers Shetland writers Scottish critics 20th-century Scottish poets Scottish male poets 20th-century Scottish biographers 20th-century Scottish male writers British male biographers