Shaetlan Voice in Exile

Select any video clip in this landscape format, or use the phone-friendly portrait layout.

Shetlander Christie Williamson is the focus of this third “poets in exile” collection in our experimental extension of the Island Voices “capture and curation” model into new contexts and languages. This follows on from Jamaican in Wales with Audrey West, and Gaelic in Shetland with Donald S Murray, all supported by CIALL.

As the documentary reveals, while Christie has been a resident of Glasgow for over twenty years, he has also travelled extensively to present his poems around the world, while keeping a firm grip on his Shetland roots from which he derives so much inspiration. The documentary also presents snatches from his poetry and a conversation with Chris Stout. Lengthier examples are presented in additional video clips.

In the first poetry clip, Christie recites a selection of his Shetlandic poems from his collection “Oo an Feddirs”. In the second clip he reads from “Doors tae Naewye”. The third clip features contributions to the collections “Break in Case of Silence”, and “What Winter Wants”.

The examples of unscripted speech are from a conversation in which Christie talks to fellow Shetlander Chris Stout, who is also now a Glasgow resident.

In Part 1 the topics covered include Shetland schooldays and hostel living, ferry journeys to the mainland in student days, and what living in Glasgow is like for Shetlanders.

In Part 2, they talk about what it’s like to go home to Shetland for visits, and how mobile phones, particularly in the wake of Covid, have enabled Shetlanders to keep in closer contact.

All films in the collection (including additional versions of the documentary in Gaelic and English) can be accessed through the above poster in either landscape or phone-friendly portrait layout.