Biography of Donald Campbell

Born in Caithness in 1940, Donald Campbell grew up in Edinburgh where he still lives. A full-time writer since 1974, he is active as playwright, theatre historian, stage director, scriptwriter and poet. Among more than a score of stage-plays, the most successful have been The Jesuit (1976), The Widows of Clyth (1979), Blackfriars Wynd (1980), Till All the Seas Run Dry (1981), Howard's Revenge (1985), Victorian Values (1986), The Fisher Boy and the Honest Lass (1990), The Ould Fella (1993) Nancy Sleekit (1994) and Glorious Hearts (1999). As a director, his productions have included a revival of his own Biackfriars Wynd, two adaptations of Scott novels, The Heart of Midlothian (Edinburgh Old Town Festival, 1988) and St Ronan's Well (Border Festival, 1989), a touring revival of Tom Wright's There Was a Man (Capstride Theatre, 1994) and the first English language version of MaIm Lagerlof's The Lighthouse Prisoner (Northlands Festival, 1996). Campbell has published a substantial body of poetry, six full collections being represented in his Selected Poems: 1970-1990 (Galliard, 1990). Other work includes six television plays, some fifty radio programmes, three short films and two volumes of theatre history; A Brighter Sunshine (Polygon, 1983) and Playing for Scotland (Mercat Press, 1996). His most recent publications are Edinburgh: A cultural and literary history (Signal Books, Oxford, 2003) and Homage to Rob Donn (Fras Publications, 2007). Donald Campbell's stage drama has won three Scotsman 'Fringe Firsts' for productions during the Edinburgh International Festival and his radio work has been recognized by international awards on three continents: A Clydebuilt Man (New york, 1983), The Miller's Reel (Sydney, 1987) and The year of The Bonnie Prince (Monte Carlo, 1996). Formerly Writer-in-Residence to Lothian Schools (1974-77), Resident Playwright at the Royal Lyceum Theatre (1981-83), Fellow in Creative Writing at the University of Dundee (1987-89) and William Soutar Fellow in Perth (1991-93), he was Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Napier University in 2000-0 1 and Associate Fellow in 2001-02.