The First Minister has thanked Scotland’s national poet for her “stellar work” as she comes to the end of her three-year tenure. Kathleen Jamie, the national poet for Scotland, or Makar, is stepping down from her role, and the Scottish Government is preparing to find a suitable successor. The multi-award winning poet’s work spans four decades, and she is the fourth person to be appointed the Scottish Makar since the role was created in 2004, having succeeded Jackie Kay, Liz Lochhead and Edwin Morgan.
Scotland’s national Makar currently serves a term of three years, though previously bards would hold the position for five years. Ms Jamie, who is 62, recently had her work featured at an Edinburgh International Book Festival event, attended by First Minister John Swinney, during which composer David Paul Jones took some of the Makar’s poems and set them to music. Mr Swinney said: “I want to thank Kathleen Jamie and pay tribute to the stellar work she has done over the last three years as Scotland’s fourth modern Makar, and as a national ambassador for poetry in Scotland and overseas.
“Her term as Makar will leave a powerful legacy. She encouraged the public to become engaged with the role by writing a series of collective poems curated from individual lines of poetry submitted by the people of Scotland. Scotland’s Makar Kathleen Jamie reads her poem The Morrow-Bird in Holyrood in 2021 (Jane Barlow/PA) “Kathleen has also recently completed a collective poem .