SAORSA MEDIA AND MICHAEL NEWTON

Saorsa Media was created in 2001 by Michael Newton as an outlet for materials relating to Scottish Highland literature and heritage in America, as no other such publisher exists dedicated to this field.

Michael Newton was awarded a PhD in Celtic Studies by the University of Edinburgh in 1998. He has written a number of books and articles on Scottish Gaelic culture (see below), and has recently focused on the hitherto untold story of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States.

He has given lectures and taught workshops on a number of Scottish topics - from Scottish Gaelic language lessons to Scottish cultural geography - at venues such as the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, Slighe nan Gaidheal in Seattle, and the Toronto Scottish Gaelic Learners' Association.

He has performed Highland song at various venues in the US and Canada, and in Scotland and France with folklore ensemble Drumalban.

Below is a partial list of publications (click here to see a formal academic CV).

BOOKS

• Ossian's People: The World of the Scottish Highlanders (Birlinn, 2009)
• Sgeulachdan an Dà Shaoghail (Sandstone Press, 2007)
• (with Rhiannon Giddens) Calum and Catrìona's Welcome to the Highlands (Chapel Hill: Saorsa Media, 2006).
• Dùthchas nan Gàidheal: The Work of John MacInnes on the Scottish Highlands (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006).
• We’re Indians Sure Enough: The Legacy of the Scottish Highlanders in the United States (Chapel Hill: Saorsa Media, 2001).
• A Handbook of the Scottish Gaelic World (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2000).
• Bho Chluaidh gu Calasraid / From the Clyde to Callander: Gaelic Tales, Songs and Traditions from the Lennox and Menteith (Stornoway: Acair, 1999).

SELECTED ARTICLES

• (with Hugh Cheape) “The Keening of Women and the Roar of the Pipes: From Clàrsach to Bagpipe, c. 1600-1782”, Ars Lyrica (forthcoming)
• '"Chì mi cuimhnichean sgrìobhte nach gabh leughadh le coigreach": Àite agus Aiteam, Dùthaich agus Dùthchas', Gaelic Proceedings of the Heritage and Environment Conference 2007, forthcoming
• 'Did you hear about the Gaelic-speaking African?': Proceedings of the African-Americans in the Celtic Nations conference, forthcoming
• “Prophecy and Cultural Conflict in Scottish Gaelic Tradition,” Scottish Studies (forthcoming).
• “Celticity in the Old South”, Cross Roads journal (2006)
• “Dancing with the Dead: The Highland Wake Dance,” Cànan & Cultar / Language & Culture: Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 2003 (2006), ed. Wilson McLeod, James Fraser and Anja Gunderloch.
• Review essay of How Celtic Culture Invented Southern Literature, eKeltoi
• “Highland Communities on the West Coast of America,” Highlander Magazine (July 2005).
• “'This Could Have Been Mine': Scottish Gaelic Learners in North America,” eKeltoi.
• “The Fiery Cross: Folklore, Literature, and Fakelore,” History Scotland (May/June 2005).
• “Afro-Gaelic Music in America,” History Scotland (Mar/Apr 2005).
• “Scotland and America: Forever Tartan?” History Scotland (Sep/Oct 2004).
• “More Early MacGregor Poetry,” Scottish Gaelic Studies Vol. 21, 2003.
• “ ‘Becoming Cold-Hearted Like the Gentiles Around Them’: Scottish Gaelic in the United States 1872-1912,” eKeltoi.
• “Jacobite Past, Loyalist Present,” eKeltoi.
• “In Their Own Words: Gaelic Literature in North Carolina,” Scotia Vol. 25, 2001.
• “Gaelic sources for Ruaig Beinn Todhaig,”Scottish Gaelic Studies Vol. 20, 2000.
• “Border Disputes: Gaelic Cultural Identity and Interaction in the Lennox and Menteith,” Celtic Cultural Studies 2000

AWARDS

• National Endowment for the Humanities, 2007 Digital Humanities Initiative grant.
• 2006 Research Book of the Year award from the Saltire Society (Scotland)
• Coralys Award (for outstanding work towards the preservation and promotion of Celtic languages and cultures), Fellowship for Celtic Tradition, 2003 (Awarded for Gaelic Studies development at University of Richmond)
• Coralys Award (for outstanding work towards the preservation and promotion of Celtic languages and cultures), Fellowship for Celtic Tradition, 2002 (Awarded for book We're Indians Sure Enough)
• Clan Donald Educational Trust Scholarship, 1996-1998
• Overseas Research Scholarship, 1995-1997
• Richard Brown Scholarship (University of Edinburgh), 1995
• UCSD Undergraduate Research Scholar Award, 1990

COMPUTER WORK

• Was member of FTL Games team which created award-winning games SunDog and Dungeon Master.
• Created this website (Saorsa Media) by hand-coding XHTML and PHP.
• Created Calum and Catrìona website by hand-coding XHTML.
• Created EPESMandala website by hand-coding XHTML.
• Created VIPIS website by hand-coding XHTML.
• Created North Carolina Scottish Heritage Society website.
• Created and maintain the TeleSage corporate website.