Fionn MacColla born Thomas Douglas MacDonald on 4 March 1906, was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 novelist closely connected to the Scottish Renaissance

Scottish Renaissance

The Scottish Renaissance was a mainly literary movement of the early to mid 20th century that can be seen as the Scottish version of modernism. It is sometimes referred to as the Scottish literary renaissance, although its influence went beyond literature into music, visual arts, and politics...

. Although he wrote in English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, he was very interested in Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic language

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish....

 and culture and campaigned for it to return to, what he perceived to be, its rightful place in the Scottish mainstream. He was a good personal friend of Hugh MacDiarmid

Hugh MacDiarmid

Hugh MacDiarmid is the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve , a significant Scottish poet of the 20th century. He was instrumental in creating a Scottish version of modernism and was a leading light in the Scottish Renaissance of the 20th century...

 and Helen Cruickshank

Helen Cruickshank

Helen Burness Cruickshank was a minor Scottish poet and suffragette, better known for being a focal point of the Scottish Renaissance. At her home in Corstorphine, various Scottish writers of note would meet....

.

MacColla was born in Montrose to Donald and Jessie Macdonald (née Anderson Douglas). His father was a native Gaelic speaker, and it is from his father that MacColla was made aware of the language as a young boy. As a child, Mac Colla's family were Plymouth Brethren.

After graduating first in the country for his teaching exams, MacColla was appointed headmaster of Laide Public school in Wester Ross at the age of 19. The following year he left for Palestine to teach history for a school run by the United Free Church. He remained in Palestine for 3 years, before returning to Scotland permanently in 1929.

His best known novels are The Albannach and And the Cock Crew. And the Cock Crew takes its title from the gospel story of Peter the disciple

Disciple (Christianity)

In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. While Jesus attracted a large following, the term disciple is commonly used to refer specifically to "the Twelve", an inner circle of men whose number perhaps represented the twelve tribes of Israel...

 who ended up denying and thus betraying Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

. The protagonist is a minister

Minister of religion

In Christian churches, a minister is someone who is authorized by a church or religious organization to perform functions such as teaching of beliefs; leading services such as weddings, baptisms or funerals; or otherwise providing spiritual guidance to the community...

 in a Highland

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 parish

Parish

A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...

, Sachari, whose congregation is being cleared

Highland Clearances

The Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands, and the North American colonies...

. The Albannach has a modern (20th century) setting, and makes wry comments on contemporary Gaelic, and general Scottish attitudes. Fionn MacColla is commemorated in Makars' Court, outside The Writers' Museum, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh.

After nearly 20 years living in the Western Isles, MacColla returned to Edinburgh where he died of heart failure in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary on 20 July 1975.

Selections for Makars' Court are made by The Writers' Museum; The Saltire Society; The Scottish Poetry Library.