Iain Crichton Smith was born in Glasgow in 1928, the second of three sons of John and Christina Smith, both natives of the Hebridean island of Lewis. An important Scottish figure in the English literature of the twentieth century, Smith was also one of the most important writers in Gaelic throughout a long and prolific career. Best known for his 1968 novel Consider the Lilies, he wrote more than fifty books, several hundred poems and short stories, several stage plays, screenplays, and radio dramas, as well as translating from various languages into English and Gaelic, and publishing literary and cultural criticism. Smith grew up in the small village of Bayble in Lewis, which was also home to the Gaelic poets Derick Thomson (b.1…
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Citation: Watson, Moray. "Iain Crichton Smith". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 January 2009 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4117, accessed 22 November 2024.]
