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Rona MacDonald
Residency

Rona Dhòmhnallach/MacDonald

Raised on the family croft on the island of South Uist, Rona is part of the lost generation of Gaelic speakers, where many were discouraged from connecting with Gaelic language and culture at school, in a time before the Gaelic-Medium revival had begun. From a family of renowned Gaelic singers, storytellers and pipers she tries to challenge and address this imbalance in her cultural identity through her writing, something that she has been driven to do since her early teens.

In the last few years she has written and performed Fuaigh, a Ceilidh Play originally commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland, Chan Urrain Dhomh Falach Nad Theanga/ I Can’t Hide in Your Tongue  as part of a 6 month residency with Imaginate and is developing Stur an adaptation of Antigone by Sophocles.

As part of a 6 month residency with the Imaginate and she is currently developing a script based on Antigone by Sophocles. Stùris a Gaelic adaptation and collaboration with John Binnie and Gillebride MacilleMhaoil.

Rona takes on regular Gaelic teaching roles and collaboration with other theatre makers and artists both as an artist and within her formal role as Gaelic Arts Producer for Glasgow Life. She is a Gaelic Editor on the on-line site Bella Caledonia, occasionally writes for Am Pàipear, South Uist’s award winning community newspaper and she hosts Ten x 9, a regular story telling evening at the Glad Café.

Over the years her poetry has been published and she has recently been the recipient of the acclaimed Ruairidh MacThomais/ Derek Thompson Poetry Prize to commemorate 30 years of the Gaelic Books Council. She is currently working on her own collection.