Beth Frieden on Gaelic poetry and new pamphlet Acair san Talamh

You write poetry in both Gaelic and English. How does this bilingual creative process work for you?

I do. I usually try to write in Gaelic, unless a poem needs a particular turn of phrase in English, because it's better to write Gaelic poems in Gaelic. Then if I get stuck, maybe I will translate it into English. I will often work back and forth between both languages, because for me the translation provides a new lens to see the poem with.

Your debut pamphlet is entitled Acair san Talamh, 'anchor in the land'. How do you manage to sail, and stay rooted, between your native United States and Scotland, where you have been based?

Ah, if only I could sail between them! I like the anchor metaphor for a big tree, personally, because I have a longstanding romance with tall ships, which of course are made out of trees. But I've been very privileged to get to go back to New Hampshire at least every other year for a while, and to bring my daughters so that they get to know it as well (not all immigrants get to do this!). I want them to see healthy forests and be familiar with them, with life amongst the trees. I think that helps. In other ways, I am very happy to not be living in the US right now and not have to be an adult and a parent there!

Apart from being a poet, you are also an actor. Are these two spheres connected?

Acting is my team sport, and poetry is my solo sport. The thing I like about acting is the working together to tell the story, and I'm not a solo performance artist. When I want to make something by myself, I usually make a poem. I definitely bring some performance skills to poetry reading, or at least I am comfortable using my voice onstage, but I actually feel like poetry is closer to the textile crafts that I do for a hobby, in some ways, than it is to the process of acting.

Has Glasgow and the local Gaelic culture been an influence on your work?

Glasgow, and the other places I have lived in Scotland, have absolutely had an influence on my writing. Glasgow is the biggest city I’ve ever lived in, and I really enjoy getting to write city poems as well as country poems. I’ve lived in four places in Scotland – Edinburgh, Skye, Oban, and Glasgow – and in all four places I’ve found Gaelic friends. But when I lived in Oban, I didn't write any poetry all year, actually. It was my probation year teaching, and I didn't have any space in my head. I’m definitely not as involved in the Glasgow poetry scene as I could be, but I have lots of poetry friends here, and some writing affinity groups.

You are part of the initiative Gàidhlig A-staigh, in which families seek to bring their children up in Gaelic and make it the main language of daily life. What are the challenges of doing that in Glasgow?

My partner and I are lucky because we both speak Gaelic, so we have an easier situation than a lot of other Gaelic-speaking parents; we just don't speak English at home, to each other, or to the kids. For us, the challenge is mainly finding other kids who are willing to speak Gaelic to their peers. Most parents are struggling to get their children to speak Gaelic back to them because the other parent speaks only English. Gàidhlig A-Staigh is an attempt to create situations where native Gaelic-speaking children can meet each other and play in Gaelic, while Gaelic-speaking parents model this for their kids.

If you were to name one work of Gaelic literature that you find exciting and would like to see more widely appreciated, what would it be?

I was really excited about Robbie MacLeòid’s new pamphlet that I got to edit, Am Measg Luaithrean, Beò (Stewed Rhubarb, 2025). I thought it was playing with form and content, it was political, it was everything I want in a pamphlet. I hope all the Gaelic poetry fans will buy it.

Your pamphlet, from which you'll be reading at the festival, came out three years ago. Do you have a current writing project? And will it feature some tall ships and trees?

I have been writing! The pamphlet came out a few months after my younger daughter was born, so I have also been busy parenting a small child, which isn’t conducive to deep writing time, but I’ve been working on a lot of translation as a part of the Edwin Morgan Translation Exchange, and I’ve had some exciting talks with a publisher about a potential next project. And I do have two poems I haven’t published yet with tall ships in them, and several more featuring some trees.

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Acair san Talamh is out now with Stewed Rhubarb Press
Beth Frieden is at Govanhill Book Festival, Glasgow, 8 Aug, 4pm