Major conference to celebrate the writings of St Kilda

It is a remarkable fact that almost all of the over 700 books and articles written about St Kilda – on which our images overwhelmingly are based – were written by visitors to the islands, often on the basis of pre-conceptions and very little first-hand knowledge. Outside writers frequently had their own agendas (political, religious, journalistic). It is not surprising therefore that many myths have developed, and been repeated. The voice of the Gaelic-speaking native people has been largely lost or overlooked.

The world-wide fascination with the deserted islands of St Kilda shows no sign of waning, and we all share certain conventional assumptions about and stereotypical images of the islands – remoteness, dramatic landscape and bird-life, a distinctive ‘primitive’ community, the St Kilda Parliament, the mail-boat, the strict teachings of the Church, an economy uniquely dependent on sea-birds, and the sad decline and eventual evacuation of the remaining inhabitants at their own request in 1930.

In this major conference 11th-14th August 2010, held in Benbecula, Outer Hebrides, to mark the 80th anniversary of the evacuation, the Islands Book Trust aims to look behind the myths and re-examine some of the conventional wisdom:

• What were the motives of writers such as Martin Martin, John MacDonald, and John Sands, whose writings have so influenced our impressions of St Kilda?
• What is known about how the St Kildans themselves viewed their world?
• What was the real role of the Church in influencing the lives and assumptions of the St Kildans and the eventual request for evacuation?
• Why did St Kilda produce so little writing from within, in contrast with for example the Blasket islands in Ireland, or the Faroes?
• How different was St Kilda from other islands which became depopulated in the 20th century?