The HI~Arts International Fellowship 2005 

Kenneth White 'The Geopoetics Project'

At the end of October 2005, poet, academic and writer, Kenneth White, delivered a unique series of three lectures in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. The series came initially as the proposed culmination of a Fellowship designed by the region's arts development agency, HI~Arts.
 

 
At the first of the three lectures, at the MacPhail Centre, Ullapool, it became very clear that there was not only a strong desire for events and lectures of this type, but that there exists a deep-seated bond between Kenneth White and the region, a bond that became increasingly obvious as we moved from Ullapool to Inverness and on to Orkney. Far from being the culmination, it became clear to all involved in the Fellowship program that Kenneth White's engagement with the region had at last found expression and that the relationship would have to continue in an active and positive manner.

The new HI~Arts annual Fellowship was established to enable an academic and/or writer of international significance to devlop new material specific to the theme of 'Creativity and North' with the aim that, over the years, an important body of new work would come to exist, encouraging focus on and study of the region's unique culture, and unique contribution to global culture. 

The award of the first Fellowship to Kenneth White recognises his outstanding, unique and sustained contribution to the study of Scottish culture in general and of the Highlands and Islands in particular.

Kenneth White is the author of a very considerable body of work comprising poetry, prose narrative and essays. His first book, The Cold Wind of Dawn, came out from Jonathan Cape, London, in 1966. Among his recent books are: Open World-Collected Poems, 2003, The Wanderer and his Charts, essays, and Across the Territories, narrative, 2004, published by Polygon, Edinburgh.

He held the Chair of Twentieth Century Poetics at the Sorbonne Paris from 1983 to 1996, and is the founder-president of the International Institute of Geopoetics, as well as holding honorary doctorates from Glasgow and Edinburgh and the Open University.

Kenneth White said: 
 
"In these lectures, I’ll be talking about place, culture and world. The country is badly in need, not of yet another Renaissance, but of a thoroughgoing reconnaissance. A lot of the institutions haven’t a clue what culture means, they spend their time piling up secondary matter and fostering foutery schemes.

"I’ll be doing a re-reading of Scottish literature, Scottish history and Scottish culture. And I’ll be doing it from different places, always in touch with the particular place. Culture starts from where you are. And if your base, your centre, is right, you can move out from it in concentric circles. You don’t get embedded in regional couthiness. With a wider field of reference, you expand.”

HI~Arts is honoured to present these recordings of the three lectures:

Lecture  One - 'North Atlantic Investigations' - was delivered at the MacPhail Centre, Ullapool on Saturday 29th October 2005.

Lecture Two -  'Return to the Territory' - was delivered at the Beaufort Hotel, Inverness on Sunday 30th October 2005.

Lecture Three - 'A Sense of High North' - was delivered at Orkney College, Kirkwall on Monday 31st October 2005.

The three lectures are downloadable in mp3 format from this page.  These audio files are best downloaded via a Broadband Internet connection, where available.

The Fellowship programme was made possbile by financial support from Scottish Arts Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and in association with UHI.

Peter Urpeth
Writing Development Coordinator,
HI~Arts