Liz Lochhead is one of Scotland’s best-loved poets and playwrights, and from 2011 to 2016 she was the Makar, the national poet of Scotland. Though she was born in Lanarkshire, Glasgow has been her home and her stage, and her work speaks in the vivid, everyday voice of the west of Scotland.
From art school to poetry
Born near Motherwell in 1947, Lochhead set her heart on the Glasgow School of Art, where she studied in the late 1960s, and then taught art for a time. She had written poetry since childhood, won a BBC Scotland competition in 1971, and published her first collection, Memo for Spring, the following year, finding her feet in the lively Glasgow literary scene around Edwin Morgan, Tom Leonard, Alasdair Gray and James Kelman.
A poet of the everyday
Lochhead’s poetry is alive with the rhythms of ordinary speech and with a sharp, feminist wit. Collections such as The Grimm Sisters, Dreaming Frankenstein and The Colour of Black and White made her one of the most widely read and widely heard poets in the country, as much at home on a stage as on the page.
A woman of the theatre
Her plays rival her poems. Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, first staged in 1987, is among the most admired Scottish plays of its era, a retelling of the story of Mary, Queen of Scots. She has given broad Scots voices to Molière and to Greek tragedy, and written a great deal for Glasgow’s theatres.
Makar of Scotland
After living for a time in Canada and New York, Lochhead returned to Glasgow in 1986. In 2005 she was named the city’s Poet Laureate, and in 2011 she succeeded Edwin Morgan as the Makar, the national poet of Scotland, a post she held until 2016. She has been awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry and honorary degrees from universities across Scotland. A well-known feminist, she has also been outspoken on political causes, including her support for Scottish independence.
A defining voice
Liz Lochhead is widely regarded as one of the defining voices of modern Scottish writing, and a central figure in the cultural life of Glasgow, carrying forward a tradition of the city’s women writers that reaches back to Catherine Carswell.
Related questions
Who is Liz Lochhead?
A Scottish poet and playwright, and the Makar or national poet of Scotland from 2011 to 2016. She is closely associated with Glasgow.
What is Liz Lochhead’s most famous play?
Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, from 1987, is among her best-known works, though her poetry is equally celebrated.
Is Liz Lochhead from Glasgow?
She was born near Motherwell in Lanarkshire, but she studied at the Glasgow School of Art and has long made her home and her career in Glasgow.
What is the Makar?
The national poet of Scotland. Liz Lochhead was the second to hold the modern post, succeeding Edwin Morgan in 2011.