Donald S Murray awarded Honorary Fellowship of the Association for Scottish Literature
Posted on September 6, 2025
We’re delighted to share that Shetland-based writer Donald S Murray was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Association for Scottish Literature at the University of Edinburgh on the evening of the 5th September.
He is delighted to join distinguished company: previously inducted honorary fellows include the late Nobel prize-winning poet Seamus Heaney, the late novelist William McIlvanney, the poet and former Scots Makar Kathleen Jamie and folk singer Dick Gaughan.
Speaking on the night, Donald said: “I’m thrilled to have won this award. There are a number of people with Shetland connections to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude. They include the likes of the late Alex Cluness, who provided me with support and guidance for my first novel, and Donald Anderson who inspired me to write songs. Both these individuals worked for Shetland Arts some time ago and were fantastic in their encouragement and the effects of their inspiration.
One of the benefits of the latter has become the Metagama: Atlantic Odyssey, a concert for which I wrote the lyrics of a few songs together with Liza Mulholland and Willie Campbell, both remarkable musicians. This event will be touring much of Scotland from late October, beginning in Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh.”
Lewis-raised actress Dolina Maclennan appears in Metagama: An Atlantic Odyssey. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2016 and is known widely for her performances in ground-breaking plays such as The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil.
Donald was awarded the Honorary Fellowship for his substantial and distinctive contribution to the Scottish literary tradition, including his Torday Prize-winning novel As the Women Lay Dreaming and play Sequamur. The latter has been allocated to over 100 secondary schools throughout Scotland and has become part of the English Higher course for pupils. His poetry and non-fiction have also been widely published.
Congratulations, Donald, on this lifetime achievement!
Donald’s forthcoming book, The Loch of the Bees will publish in March 2026.
A son of the Hebrides, Donald S Murray is a writer and poet whose first novel, As the Women Lay Dreaming, won the Paul Torday Memorial Prize in 2020, as well as being shortlisted for a host of other literary awards. Like his first novel, his second, In a Veil of Mist, is set in the Isle of Lewis and centred on historical events of the 20th century and was shortlisted for the Highland Book Prize. Donald’s previous books have been shortlisted for both the Saltire Literary Awards and the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award. He is also the writer of The Man who Talks to Birds, a collection of poetry published in 2020. His third novel The Call of the Cormorant was published in 2022 and his fourth The Salt and the Flame in 2024. His critically acclaimed non-fiction books bring to life the culture and nature of the Scottish islands, and he appears regularly on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland.
