March 2004 Interview: Rody Gorman (1)

IT’S NOT EVERY day that the Scottish launch of an anthology of poetry has to be cancelled due to the publishers selling out of all copies beforehand, but then An Guth is not an ‘everyday’ anthology of poetry.

The publication of An Guth, an anthology of poetry in Scottish Gàidhlig and Irish Gaelige edited by Rody Gorman, came about “to get the two teams together”, and what was originally intended as a literary magazine quickly grew into a more substantial book format, running out at over 200 pages in length and presenting the work of over 60 poets.

Rody, an Irish speaker who started learning Scottish Gaelic some twenty years ago, had begun to formulate ideas for the project when he himself started publishing poetry, and became concerned about the lack of publishing outlets for Gaelic poets.

“Generally speaking,” Rody said, “the world of Gaelic poetry is not in a healthy state, and the opportunities for publication are really limited. Publication outlets aren’t that plentiful. There are a few in Ireland but they are virtually non-existent in Scotland. So, I am pleased that there is now this new outlet for the poetry. In Ireland things are a little healthier because of the nature of publishing in that country.”

Originally, Rody discussed the idea for An Guth with Iomairt Colum Cille, who agreed to the principles of the project, and to providing funding. Rody then contacted Dublin-based publishers Coiscém who, he states, were extremely keen on the idea, enabling him to concentrate on gathering the poems and the other editorial work.

At first, that work consisted mainly of contacting well-established poets and asking for a contribution. Most agreed to be a part of the first edition, and so matters progressed quickly to the launch on the island of Raithlin, but such was the success of the anthology that a second, Scottish, launch had to be cancelled when the publishers run out of copies!

“What did please me in this process,” says Rody, “was that virtually everyone I asked for a submission gave me one and also that the funding from Iomairt Colum Cille is over three years, and so I am guaranteed at least that for the first few issues and so it is now a matter of establishing a reputation for the publication.”

Rody is now hard at work compiling the second edition which may see some changes in format to include some prose works which, Rody feels, are simply too interesting to leave out, an understandable sentiment when among the submissions is a translation into Gaelic by a man from Maine, USA, who lives in Cape Breton, Canada, of a Buddhist Sutra.

“There was a preponderance of quite well known poets in the first one,” Rody declared, “but this will be different in the second one. One of the most pleasing things about the first one was that there were a couple of writers who are well-known poets, but not in either of these languages, so we had people like Michael Cody and Rita Ann Higgins from Ireland and Sìne Nic Theàrlaich (Sheena Blackhall) from Scotland writing in Gàidhlig and Gaelige, and similar things are happening in the second edition.”

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