Liz Lochhead facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Liz Lochhead
Hon FRSE
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Lochhead speaks at the 2024 St Andrew's Book Festival.
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| Makar | |
| In office 19 January 2011 – 31 January 2016 |
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| Preceded by | Edwin Morgan |
| Succeeded by | Jackie Kay |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Elizabeth Anne Lochhead
26 December 1947 Craigneuk, Lanarkshire, Scotland |
| Alma mater | Glasgow School of Art |
| Occupation | Teacher, poet, playwright, Makar |
Liz Lochhead (born 26 December 1947) is a famous Scottish writer. She is a poet, a playwright (someone who writes plays), a translator (someone who changes words from one language to another), and a broadcaster. From 2011 to 2016, she was the Makar, which means the National Poet of Scotland. Before that, she was the Poet Laureate for Glasgow from 2005 to 2011.
Contents
Liz Lochhead's Early Life
Elizabeth Anne Lochhead was born in Craigneuk, Scotland, on December 26, 1947. Craigneuk was a small village near Motherwell where people used to mine for coal. Her parents both served in the army during World War II. Later, her father worked as a clerk for the local government.
In 1952, her family moved to a new house in another mining village called Newarthill. Her sister was born there in 1957. Even though her teachers wanted her to study English, Liz decided to go to Glasgow School of Art. She studied there from 1965 to 1970. After finishing art school, she taught art in high schools in Glasgow and Bristol. She later said she wasn't very good at teaching.
Her Creative Career
Liz Lochhead started writing poetry when she was a child and continued while at art school. In 1971, she won a poetry competition held by BBC Scotland. The next year, her first collection of poems, Memo For Spring, was published.
Some people thought Liz was part of a special writing group with other famous Scottish writers like Alasdair Gray and James Kelman. However, Liz has said this isn't true. She did get a lot of support and ideas from other Scottish poets in the early 1970s. She met older poets like Norman MacCaig and Edwin Morgan. She also met writers her own age, like Tom Leonard and Alasdair Gray. Liz even created fun stage shows with Leonard and Gray, such as Tickly Mince.
Over the years, Liz published more poetry books, including Islands (1978) and The Grimm Sisters (1979). She also lived in Toronto, Canada, and later in New York, USA, for a while. In 1986, she moved back to Glasgow for good.
Writing for the Theatre
Liz Lochhead became very successful with her plays, just like with her poetry. Some of her well-known plays include Blood and Ice (1982) and Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off (1987). She also wrote Perfect Days (2000).
She even rewrote a famous French play called Tartuffe (1985) into the Scots language. Her version of the ancient Greek play Medea won an award in 2001. Her plays have also been performed on BBC Radio 4. She wrote new plays for the Oran Mor theatre in Glasgow, like Mortal Memories (2012).
Poetry and Music
Liz Lochhead's poetry is known for its lively and natural way of speaking. Later poetry collections include True Confessions and New Clichés (1985) and Bagpipe Muzak (1991). She also published Dreaming Frankenstein: and Collected Poems (1984) and A Choosing (2011).
Liz enjoys writing songs and mixing poetry with music. She has worked with the singer-songwriter Michael Marra. She also sang on a song for the hip-hop group Hector Bizerk. She often works with saxophonist Steve Kettley and the band The Hazey Janes.
Liz Lochhead performs her work around the world at theatres and book festivals. She also often appears at events in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Her Views and Beliefs
Liz Lochhead has strong opinions on different topics. She supports Scottish independence, which means she believes Scotland should be an independent country. She has performed with groups that support independence. She also wrote in The Guardian newspaper that she thinks the famous poet Robert Burns would have supported independence too.
Liz is also known as a feminist. This means she believes in equal rights and opportunities for women. She once said that "feminism is like the hoovering, you just have to keep doing it." This means it's an ongoing effort.
In 2012, Liz visited Palestine. What she saw there in the West Bank deeply affected her. She is against the Israeli occupation and supports a cultural boycott of Israel. In 2014, she helped create A Bird is Not a Stone. This was a book of modern Palestinian poems translated into the languages of Scotland.
Liz Lochhead has also openly criticized Creative Scotland, which is an organization that gives money to arts projects in Scotland.
Awards and Special Recognitions
In 2005, Liz Lochhead became the Poet Laureate for Glasgow. She held this important role until 2011. That year, she was chosen as the second Scots Makar, or national poet of Scotland. She took over from Edwin Morgan, who had passed away. She finished her term as Makar in February 2016, and Jackie Kay became the next Makar.
Today, she is the Honorary President of the Caledonian Cultural Fellows at Glasgow Caledonian University. She also has special honorary degrees from ten different universities in Scotland.
She has been a writer-in-residence at several places, including Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and Glasgow University. This means she was invited to live and write there, often helping students. She also worked at The University of Edinburgh, Glasgow School of Art, the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Eton College.
In 2014, she was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2015, Liz Lochhead received the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. She was only the 11th woman to win this award since it started in 1933. She was also the eighth Scot to receive it.
There is a statue of her face at Edinburgh Park, along with statues of other famous Scottish poets. This statue has parts of her poems carved into it. In 2023, Liz Lochhead won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Book Awards Ceremony in Glasgow.
Her Personal Life
In 1986, Liz Lochhead married an architect named Tom Logan. They lived together in Glasgow. Sadly, Tom passed away in 2010. After he died, Liz wrote a poem called Favourite Place. It was about their caravan on the West Coast of Scotland, a place they loved. The poem ends with these lines:
- But tonight you are three months dead
- and I must pull down the bed and lie in it alone.
- Tomorrow, and every day in this place
- these words of Sorley MacLean’s will echo through me:
- The world is still beautiful, though you are not in it.
- And this will not be a consolation
- but a further desolation.
Published Works
- 1972: Memo For Spring. Reprographia.
- 1978: Islands. Print Studio Press.
- 1979: The Grimm Sisters. Coach House Press.
- 1999: Bagpipe Muzak. Penguin Books.
- 1999: Perfect Days. Nick Hern Books.
- 2000: Medea. Nick Hern Books.
- 2001: Cuba (with Gina Moxley). Faber & Faber.
- 2002: Misery Guts. Nick Hern Books.
- 2003: The Colour of Black and White. Polygon.
- 2003: Dreaming Frankenstein and Collected Poems, 1967–84. Polygon.
- 2003: Thebans. Nick Hern Books.
- 2003: True Confessions: And New Cliches. Polygon.
- 2006: Good Things. Nick Hern Books.
- 2009: Educating Agnes. Nick Hern Books.
- 2009: Blood and Ice. Nick Hern Books.
- 2010: Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off. Nick Hern Books.
- 2011: A Choosing. Polygon
- 2012: Liz Lochhead: Five Plays. Nick Hern Books.
Images for kids
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Lochhead speaks at the 2024 St Andrew's Book Festival.
