Scottish Literature - The Andrew Tannahill Fund

The Andrew Tannahill Fund for the furtherance of Scottish literature was established in 2006 by Dr Mabel Tannahill, herself a Glasgow graduate, in memory of her father Andrew Tannahill (a descendant of Robert Tannahill, the Paisley poet).

The fund was launched with a publication of his selected poems, songs and translations, A Tapsalteerie Touer (Kettillonia), and it has allowed the University to begin work in a number of different ways to develop the subject of Scottish literature further.

Through a range of activities, the fund has supported the engagements of contemporary writing and cultural debate, historical scholarship from the twenty-first back to the fourteenth centuries and further, as well as various forms of publication.  The launch preceded the first of a series of lectures marking the initiation of the celebrated Robert Burns Centre at Glasgow University, and endorsed the connections between Burns’ eighteenth-century and Andrew Tannahill’s twentieth-century work as popular and politically-engaged song-writers.

The University was delighted to learn that Dr Tannahill has made a further provision in her will to support the fund.  A bequest of £100,000 will be directed to the Andrew Tannahill Fund which will enable the fund to continue to grow and flourish.  Dr Tannahill commented:

‘the establishment of the fund gives me great joy while in this world, while the financial benefits can be added to post mortem!’

Professor Alan Riach, Chair of Scottish Literature, added:

'Dr Tannahill's wonderful bequest is the most marvellous example of sharp-focused benevolence. Throughout the world, literature and the arts are understood to be the most vital activities of society. Medicine and engineering bring clear benefits to many, but the arts are equally essential in vitalising the world. Scotland has been slow to catch up with the history of its own literature and a bequest like this allows us to invest in scholarly research through students' bursaries, support of new creative writing, public lectures and debates that take forward the subject of Scottish literature to a national and international audience.’