The use of pseudonyms by the Brontë sisters is perhaps one of the best known examples of the use of pen names in English literature. This post focusses on Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855), whose novel ‘Jane Eyre’ was published 175 years ago in October 1847. It was Charlotte who persuaded her sisters to submit their writing […]
The life and poetry of Phillis Wheatley Peters
As part of Black History Month the Library has a display in the Special Collections Reading Room (SCRR) celebrating the work of Phillis Wheatley Peters. Peters was a talented poet and believed to be the first Black American to publish a book of poetry. This blog will look at her life and poetry. Born possibly […]
James Dover Grant becomes bestselling author Lee Child
Lee Child is the author of a series of thrillers about former American military police officer Jack Reacher. who travels around the United States by bus carrying only a toothbrush and a bank card. It has been claimed that a Jack Reacher novel is sold every four seconds, fans of the series include Stephen King, […]
George Eliot and the disagreeables of reputation
“Whatever may be the success of my stories, I shall be resolute in preserving my incognito, having observed that a nom de plume secures all the advantages without the disagreeables of reputation.” George Eliot The author Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880) is better known as George Eliot. In 2020 when the ‘Reclaim Her Name’ project published […]
Salmon in Sápmi: John Francis Campbell’s Scandinavian Journals
From the middle of the nineteenth century, Norway became a popular destination for aristocratic British fishermen. They became known there as “salmon lords”. John Francis Campbell (1821-1885) was one of them but he did more than live a life of leisure. He was a noted linguist and folklorist, collecting Gaelic folktales, songs, anecdotes and more.
Fringe ephemera
It’s August and the Edinburgh festival is upon us back to its raucous self, more or less, following two years of enforced, relative quiet. 2022 is the 75th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Festival. It is also seventy-five years since eight theatre groups who were not invited to participate in the International Festival turned up […]
Eric Blair becomes George Orwell
When we were deciding who to include in the National Library of Scotland’s current exhibition ‘Pen names’ we had to be selective. Many authors have used pen names in the United Kingdom in the period covered by the exhibition, 1800 to the present day, but we could only include forty. We decided on criteria for […]
A potted history of pen names
A pen name is a literary alias: a variation of a writer’s birth or married name or a completely invented pseudonym. The Library’s exhibition ‘Pen Names’ takes a thematic approach to the subject, looking at how factors such as privacy, gender, reputation, authenticity, and genre have influenced writers’ decision to use a pen name from […]
Refugee Week at the National Library — Sound and Voice
Scotland has three official languages, but countless others have echoed through its streets and floated over its airwaves. From poetry to protest chants, the speech and song of the immigrants and refugees who have made their homes in Scotland have enriched the soundtrack of Scottish life. Pause for a moment to imagine the long-gone soundscape […]
Scottish South Asian Voices in Broadcasting
Over the last six months as an intern at the National Library of Scotland, I have undertaken the project ‘Scottish South Asians in Broadcasting’. This project draws on the Library’s vast collections, particularly the Moving Image Archive and Sound Collections, to identify underrepresented stories relating to the South Asian contribution to broadcasting in Scotland. The […]