Joe Neil MacNeil Memorial Lecture
An Ontario academic with Cape Breton roots will be the guest speaker at the fourth annual Joe Neil MacNeil Memorial Lecture at Nova Scotia Highland Village. The evening lecture, titled Poetry of the Immigrant Gaelic Poets of Nova Scotia, will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 15, in the Village Tuning Room in back of the concert stage.
In this presentation, Rob Dunbar will discuss poetry composed by Gaelic poets who left Scotland and came to Nova Scotia. He will consider the different ways that poets such as John MacLean, Allan MacDonald, John MacDonald, John MacGillivray, Alexander MacDonald and Donald MacLellan, dealt with the process of emigration and creating a new life in Nova Scotia.
Since October 2004, Dr. Dunbar has been a reader in Celtic and Law at the University of Aberdeen. Since his move to Scotland in 1995, he has been involved in a range of Gaelic organizations and initiatives. As chairperson of Comunn na Gàidhlig (CNAG), Working Group on Status, Dr. Dunbar has helped draft two proposals for a Gaelic Language Act.
Dr. Dunbar has advised governments, human rights bodies, and non-governmental organizations in a number of countries on language and human rights issues. More recently, he has completed a PhD at the University of Edinburgh on the songs of Bard MacLean.
The late Joe Neil MacNeil was a Gaelic storyteller from Middle Cape, Cape Breton Co. Mr. MacNeil was known in the Gaelic community as Eòs Nìll Bhig. A classic collection of his stories and folklore, edited by John Shaw, was published by McGill-Queen's University Press, bringing international attention to Cape Breton's Gaelic storytelling tradition.
All are welcome to attend Poetry of the Immigrant Gaelic Poets of Nova Scotia, admission is free. A tea will be served following the lecture.
For information on this and other events at Highland Village see the website at http://highlandvillage.museum.gov.ns.ca .
Information on Dr. Dunbar can be found on the website at www.abdn.ac.uk/celtic/dunbar.hti .