George Mackay Brown was a Scottish poet, author and dramatist, whose work has a distinctly Orcadian character. Born in Stromness in the Orkney Islands, Mackay Brown is considered one of the great Scottish poets of the 20th century. From his youth, he was affected by tuberculosis. Apart from a spell as a mature student at the University of Edinburgh, and Newbattle Abbey College when Edwin Muir was warden, he spent most of his life in his native islands. From them he gained most of his inspiration, in poems, stories and novels which ranged through time. He drew on the Icelandic Orkneyinga Saga, especially in his novel Magnus. He was nominated for the Booker Prize in 1994 for his Beside the Ocean of Time and won the 1987 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for "The Golden Bird: Two Orkney Stories". His autobiography, For the Islands I Sing, was published shortly after his death. A biography George Mackay Brown: The Life by Maggie Fergusson was published in 2006. Composer Peter Maxwell Davies collaborated with Mackay Brown for many of his Orkney-inspired works.... More • http://en.wikipedia. ... ckay_Brown View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Playwrights • Poets • Drama • Great Britain • Literature • Scotland • Writers