Christina Mackay Costie was born in Kirkwall on the 6th of August 1902. She grew up with her parents, a sister, and a brother on St Catherine’s Place, and attended Kirkwall Grammar School (then, Kirkwall Burgh School). She later moved to Willowburn Road, where she remained with her sister for the rest of her life. …read more >>
During the first part of the project, Writing the North has been exploring Orkney and Shetland literature in the form of conversations between academic researchers and creative writers. We started with a series of short pieces and extracts from the early nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth. We wanted to explore both island writing and the experiences of visitors so we chose a selection of different material from Walter Scott’s novel The Pirate–one of the most popular of the nineteenth century–to the almost unknown poet Margaret Chalmers. We’ve been looking at novels, short stories, poetry and history. …read more >>
