Thomas Clark (born 13 July 1980) is a Scottish poet and writer. He is best known for his work in Scots language and his writing about football.[1]
Scots language
A native speaker and Scots language specialist,[2] Clark has published several books of translations, including a Glaswegian rendering of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and an award-winning Scots translation of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. In 2015, he released Intae the Snaw, a collection of Scots translations which was praised by writer Matthew Fitt as "Brilliant... Tammas Clark takes the bonnie broukit bairn that is the Scots and blaws new life intae the hail clamjamfrie" and by poet Rab Wilson as "an important collection that timeously re-establishes the pouer, virr an smeddum o the Scots language!"[3]
In 2019, Clark won the first ever Scots Bairns' Book o the Year award at the inaugural Scots Language Awards.[4] His translation of Animal Farm into Scots subsequently won the award for Scots Book o the Year in 2023.[5]
Previously editor of Scots at Bella Caledonia,[6] Clark is now a regular columnist at The National.[7] In 2021, he acted as co-translator on the Scots language version of the web browser Firefox.[8]
Football writing
A former footballer, Clark was appointed Scottish football's first ever poet-in-residence in 2015, taking up a position with Lowland League side Selkirk F.C.[9] Selkirk FC vs the World!, a collection of pieces written by Clark about the club, was published in 2016. It was followed in 2017 by a comic novel following the misadventures of a former Selkirk midfielder, Your Pal Andy.
In 2016, Clark performed O Johnny Moscardini!, his poem celebrating Scots-Italian footballer Giovanni Moscardini, ahead of the first ever Moscardini Cup football match in Barga.[10]
Bibliography
- Alice's Adventirs in Wunnerlaun (2014)
- Intae the Snaw (2015)
- Selkirk FC vs the World! (2016)
- Your Pal Andy (2017)
- Diary o a Wimpy Wean (2018)
- Peppa's Bonnie Unicorn (2019)
- Diary o a Wimpy Wean: Rodrick the Radge (2020)
- Diary o a Wimpy Wean: Up Tae The Oxters (2020)
- A Series o Scunnersome Events: The Boggin Beginnin (2021)
- Animal Fairm (2023)
References
- ^ "Poetry in motion: Football club appoints poet-in-residence". BBC. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- ^ "Thomas Clark & Roger Mason". Edinburgh International Book Festival. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- ^ "Gatehouse Press publish Intae the Snaw by Thomas Clark". Gatehouse Press. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- ^ "Edinburgh publishers among winners of inaugural Scots Language Awards". Publishing Scotland. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- ^ "Winners unveiled at Scots Language Awards 2023". Publishing Scotland. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
- ^ "A Year o Scots". Bella Caledonia. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ "Misogyny is a men's issue". The National. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
- ^ "New internet browser written in Scots language". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
- ^ "Ae fond kick as Selkirk FC hire poet-in-residence". The Scotsman. Retrieved 13 September 2016.
- ^ "Tribute to the only Scot to play for the Italians". The National (Scotland). Retrieved 13 September 2016.
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