Tuesday 25 November 2025, 7 pm UK time, ZOOM.
This year marks the centenary of the birth of Fionnlagh Iain MacDhòmhnaill | Finlay J. Macdonald (1925–1987). The webinar explores his rich legacy as a filmmaker and producer, writer, journalist, editor, and a leading figure in Gaelic initiatives and Scottish media. The four ten-minute presentations will be preceded by a short introduction about Macdonald’s life and career and followed by a general discussion. The event will be conducted in English with some readings in Gaelic. Bidh fàilte bhlàth romhaibh uile / All welcome!
PROGRAMME
Mhairi Brennan (Aston University): Finlay J Macdonald is perhaps best remembered for his memoirs, but less well known are the documentaries he made for BBC Scotland in the 1960s. This talk will introduce you to his documentary work, exploring the poetry he found in all walks of life across Scotland.
Rob Dunbar (University of Edinburgh): The talk will focus on the topic of humour in Finlay J Macdonald’s Gaelic writing.
Tòmas MacAilpein (University of Glasgow / Faclair na Gàidhlig): The talk will focus on Macdonald’s non-fictional writing in Gaelic, including essays, travelogues, and reviews, most of which appeared in the magazine Gairm.
Petra Johana Poncarová (Charles University, Prague): The talk will focus on Macdonald’s work in drama, from making radio adaptations, producing Gaelic plays, and translating new works into Gaelic to supporting the development of Gaelic drama through festivals and writing on drama and related topics for the magazine Gairm.
SPEAKERS
Mhairi Brennan is a writer, researcher, and lecturer in Television Studies. Her first book, Archiving the Referendum: BBC Scotland’s Television Archive and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum, will be published by Palgrave Macmillan later this year.
Rob Dunbar holds the Chair of Celtic at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on language policy and planning, on Gaelic literature, culture and society from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth century, and on Gaelic in Canada. He is currently working on Gaelic autobiographical writing and Gaelic humour, as well as a completion of a biography and literary assessment of the Tiree/Nova Scotian poet John Maclean (1787-1848), and a scholarly edition of his secular song-poems.
Tòmas MacAilpein is based in Glasgow and works for Faclair na Gàidhlig. Recently, he became the editor of the Gaelic literary magazine STEALL. He was the co-editor, with Roibeard Ó Maolalaigh, of Gairm: Ùghdar is Dealbh, Rosg is Rann, 1952–2002. His own research focuses on Gaelic literature and history of the Gael, especially in the 19th and 20th century.
Petra Johana Poncarová is based at Charles University in Prague. Her monograph Derick Thomson and the Gaelic Revival was published in 2024 (Edinburgh University Press) and her edition of Derick Thomson’s Gaelic prose, An Staran, came out in 2025 (Acair). She serves as one of the co-directors of Ionad Eòghainn MhicLachlainn | National Centre for Gaelic Translation. Her Project ERSKINE explores the Gaelic magazines founded and edited by Ruaraidh Erskine of Mar.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF SCOTTISH LITERATURES 