LCCP
Centre for Literary Creativity, Community and Place

The Buke of the Howlat 

Nicola Royan's research on The Buke of the Howlat led recent academic interest in the text. She has since acted as academic adviser to its production as a children's book and its performance at Findhorn Bay Arts Festival.

Photo of two copies of the book called 'The Book of the Howlat'. The cover is pale blue and features a large owl.
 

Overview

Royan's research began the most recent academic interest in Richard Holland’s The Buke of the Howlat, firstly by her publications in 2006 and 2010, and subsequently by her championing of the edition undertaken by Professor Hanna for the Scottish Text Society.

As part of the edition’s publicity, Royan was able to secure it a site-specific launch in Moray. Thereafter, the poem has become the base text for a successful children’s book and for a dramatic production at Findhorn Bay Arts Festival. 

 

Project outreach

Moray Launch

Following the publication of the Scottish Text Society edition, Royan made contact with Moray Enterprise Trust to set up a launch event in Moray, where the poem was originally written. The Trust’s interest was in the possibility of the text being used to enhance the tourism offer in Moray. This led to a launch event in Moray, as guests of the Earl of Moray, and to a site-specific launch for the poem’s edition; it also brought the text to the attention of a wide range of business and creative industries people. 

Children's edition

After that event, Royan provided a translation and easy access to her research outputs. The first impact out was a children’s book, with images by a Moray artist Kate Leiper, and words for both the Scots and the English version, by James Robertson, and published by Birlinn Books. Royan acted as academic adviser to this production, supporting both writer and illustrator with translations, information and specific guidance regarding narrative. This book was first published in 2016; I attended its launch, also at Darnaway Castle. That volume has sold out in hardback, and has now been reprinted in softback. 

Findhorn Bay Arts Festival

In 2017, the Artistic Director of Findhorn Bay Arts Festival chose the poem as the base text for a commissioned production at the 3rd Festival. Royan served again as academic adviser, to the writer, Morna Young, a Gavin Wallace Fellow, providing a revised translation, and supplying her with my publications. The production was mounted at the end of September 2018: it was staged in Brodie Castle gardens, with four main actors, and a supporting cast drawn from Moray College department of drama; local schools were involved in producing the set. . 

Project team

Nicola Royan

 

Research outputs

  • Nicola Royan ‘”Mark your Meroure be Me”: Richard Holland's Buke of the Howlat.’ In P. Bawcutt and J. Hadley Williams (eds.), A Companion to medieval Scottish poetry. Cambridge: D.S. Brewer. 2006, pp. 49-62.
  • Nicola Royan, ‘The alliterative Awntyrs stanza in Older Scots verse’, in J. Burrow and H.N. Duggan (eds), Medieval Alliterative Poetry: Essays in Honour of Thorlac Turville-Petre, Dublin: Four Courts, 2010, pp. 185-94.
 

 

 

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