OVER the past two years Scots artist Eileen Budd, along with her partner Max Cant, has been creating new illustrations, maps and commentaries for an ambitious new edition of the poems of a blind bard from the third century AD.
And in just six days, a kickstarter campaign smashed it’s £5000 funding goal for the Poems of Ossian. If it reaches £10,000 before December 15, an illustrated guide to Scotland’s third-century druids will be printed to gift to their backers.
More than 120 backers from around the world supported the project, with contributions coming from Brazil, Canada, the US and from all over Scotland, demonstrating the interest in these Scottish sagas.
“Our stories, much like our languages, are an important part of our culture, our history and our identities,” said Budd.
“The land we know as Scotland is an ancient one, its people have a rich tradition of storytelling that reaches far beyond tales of selkies and bogles.
READ MORE: Immense, deep ... and surprisingly rich: The legacy of Ossian
"Our ancient legends have been noticeable through their apparent absence and the response to the Ossian: Warrior Poet kickstarter shows there is a desire to know these stories and to bring them to a new generation.”
After reading the Poems of Ossian as a young teenager in Perthshire, she said new young readers would be as captivated as she was: “The battles were epic and the language so lyrically linked with the natural landscape of Scotland it felt like discovering a portal into our country’s ancient past.
“I want these stories to be known by a new generation because they are so important to the history and culture of Scotland.”
Publisher Alice Sage of Wide Open Sea, based near Kelso, said Ossian: Warrior Poet will have more than 300 pages in full colour, will be produced, designed and printed in Scotland and released in the summer. She said: “We were nervous about launching a kickstarter campaign, with all the challenges people are facing right now.
“But this great news means we can publish next year. As a small indie press, it is so important to have a community of supporters who help get projects started and believe in what we do.”
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