A north-east writer, who has championed Doric with a series of initiatives in recent years, has been nominated for two prestigious national awards.
And Shane Strachan’s work on a new version of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling is also featured in a collection of classic children’s stories in Doric.
Mr Strachan is in contention for two Scots Language Awards. The first is Scots Writer o the Year and the other is Scots Project o the Year for the Doric Dwams project on which he collaborated with Frieda Strachan.
The new publication, The Itchy Coo Book of Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales in Scots, features a foreword from The Gruffalo creator Julia Donaldson, and the collection of stories has itself been nominated for Scots Bairns Book o the Year.
The work also includes a translation by north east writer Sheena Blackhall, who has worked tirelessly to promote and encourage Doric cultural initiatives.
Mr Strachan said: “I was surprised and chuffed to learn I had been nominated for the Scots Writer o the Year award.
“I have been lucky to have been kept busy during the last year with a few Scots projects, including writing a new story in Doric for schools, Hoast, about a teenage boy in lockdown with his granny in Aberdeenshire.
“I am particularly pleased that Doric Dwams has also been nominated for Scots Project o the Year as this was an exciting and innovative idea featuring Doric which I made in collaboration with Aberdeen-based fibre artist Frieda Strachan.
“The venture raised more than £1,000 for Rape Crisis Grampian, and we hope the nomination for the Scots Language Award will raise more awareness for the great work which is done by the charity.”
The awards ceremony takes place online on Saturday October 24 and the nominations opened this week for public voting.
The link is:
https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/scotslanguageawards/nominees-announced-for-the-scots-language-awards-2020/?lang=en