Niall Campbell's The Island in the Sound: radio, reviews & interviews
South Uist poet Niall Campbell published his third collection The Island in the Sound in September 2024. It has been longlisted for the Highland Book Prize 2024.
Niall Campbell's debut Moontide won both the Saltire First Book of the Year Award and the inaugural £20,000 Edwin Morgan Poetry Award. His second collection Noctuary was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best Collection 2019.
In The Island in the Sound, Niall Campbell draws on his native South Uist to create an archipelago of memories, lyrics, observations and folktales that place the small islands of his birthplace into conversation with moments from literature and history. The Sound of the title has a double meaning, both a thing that might be heard but also a body of water between islands or mainland, from the Norse word Sund.
Born and raised on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, Niall Campbell now lives in Fife. In March 2024 he took over as Editor of Poetry London.
The Island in the Sound is distributed in the USA by Consortium Book Sales, as are his previous two Bloodaxe collections.
NIALL CAMPBELL RECOMMENDATION IN THE GUARDIAN
The Guardian, The books of my life, Friday 14 February 2025
Poet Andrew McMillan recommended Niall Campbell’s third collection The Island in the Sound in his ‘books of my life’ column in The Guardian of 15 February. He chose Niall for the section ‘The writer who changed my mind’. The poem he quoted from was ‘Island Sonnets: Fugay’.
‘Everything you read, if it’s good, should change your mind. Not in terms of opinion, but the chemistry of your brain and the way it deciphers the world should be altered; if only in a small way, if only temporarily. There’s a phrase in Niall Campbell’s third collection of poetry, The Island in the Sound, about a bee: “The swelling queen quivers like a just struck match.” Each time I go to light a candle, I picture that.’ – Andrew McMillan, The Guardian (The books of my life)
Read the article in full on the Guardian website here.
POEMS ON THE UNDERGROUND POSTER FOR NIALL CAMPBELL
Niall Campbell’s poem ‘February Morning’ from his second collection Noctuary is featured on Poems on the Underground posters in London Underground and Overground trains during February and March 2025. Niall took part in the launch of the new set of posters on 24 February at Covent Garden Underground station, along with fellow Bloodaxe Scottish poet Marjorie Lotfi. Both recorded their poems, and the recordings were played over the tannoy at the station over the day.
The poster and audio of Niall reading his poem can be found below.
https://poemsontheunderground.org/this-months-poems
The poster will remain available to view on this page:
https://poemsontheunderground.org/february-morning
US REVIEW COVERAGE
Publishers Weekly, Thursday 13 February 2025
Scottish poet Niall Campbell’s third collection The Island in the Sound was well reviewed in Publishers Weekly of 13 February 2025.
‘In his meditative third collection, Campbell brings to vivid life the land and sea that defined his youth in the Outer Hebrides, interweaving references to ancient myths and the effects of climate change on the natural world and its inhabitants. […] As long as there is life on Earth, there is beauty to admire and reason to persevere, Campbell suggests. This offers an essential glimmer of hope in the dark night of the late Anthropocene. – Publishers Weekly
https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781780377216
REVIEW COVERAGE
The Irish Times, Saturday 14 December 2024
Niall Campbell’s third collection The Island in the Sound was given an excellent review at the top of Declan Ryan’s poetry round-up in The Irish Times of 14 December 2024.
‘Niall Campbell’s previous two collections had marked him out as a devoted singer, but in The Island in the Sound he’s added further layers, and colours, to his range. It feels a more expansive, ambitious, collection, with epistolary poems, myth-fashioning and an increased interest in history and folklore counterweights to the delicately lyrical work, but Campbell has all the while retained his eye for detail, for the observant, redolent image.’ – Declan Ryan, The Irish Times
In print. Available online by subscription.
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/review/2024/12/15/new-poetry-works-by-niall-campbell-elisa-gonzalez-john-mcauliffe-and-john-fitzgerald/
The Alchemy Spoon, Issue 14, January 2025
The Island in the Sound was very well reviewed in Issue 14 of The Alchemy Spoon. Diana Cant's review also covered Nia Broomhall's debut pamphlet Backalong. A video of their joint Bloodaxe online launch event is below.
‘Niall Campbell was born and raised on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides, and this, his third collection, sings to the sound of his native seas. It is an evocation of those islands and of a way of life that both shaped him and is slipping away. [...] These are poems that deal with complicated ambiguities in deceptively straightforward language. There are very few contemporary references so they are poems that will stand the test of time. They evoke the world of the islands and the sound of the Sound in a way that weaves history and myth together with an individual life.' – Diana Cant, The Alchemy Spoon
The Friday Poem, online Friday 31 January 2025
A close reading of Niall Campbell’s third collection The Island in the Sound went online in The Friday Poem on 31 January, accompanied by Niall's poem ‘Beginnings’ from the collection.
‘This is immediately interesting writing. […] All these aspects of the surface language – syntax, sound effects and phrase-making – are part of what characterises Campbell's work. They combine to achieve a dense and intense lyricism.’ – Stephen Payne, The Friday Poem, on The Island in the Sound
The Lake, online December 2024
Imtiaz Dharker’s Shadow Reader and Niall Campbell’s third collection The Island in the Sound were very well reviewed online by Hannah Stone in the December 2024 issue of The Lake.
‘Here are poems which pinpoint various types of ephemerality in the evolution and dissolution of ties and identities. [...] Campbell manages to voice both universal and specific instances of lost identity – be it the Trojan War, the ‘secret garden’ in 1092, or the islands’ ancient people: the cocklepickers, egg gatherers, Lighthouse keepers;’ – Hannah Stone, The Lake, on The Island in the Sound
https://www.thelakepoetry.co.uk/reviews/dec24/
ONLINE POEM OF THE WEEK FEATURE FOR NIALL CAMPBELL
Yorkshire Times, Poem of the Week, online Saturday 9 November 2024
Niall Campbell’s poem ‘Tongues of Water’ from his third collection The Island in the Sound was featured as Poem of the Week in the online regional newspaper the Yorkshire Times of 9 November. The poem was accompanied by Steve Whitaker’s perceptive commentary.
‘Niall Campbell’s poem of love and identity finds the perfect metaphor for a sense of collective spirituality in the protean ebb and flow of the tide.’ – Steve Whitaker, Poem of the Week, Yorkshire Times
https://yorkshiretimes.co.uk/article/Poem-Of-The-Week-Tongues-Of-Water-By-Niall-Campbell
VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH NIALL CAMPBELL
Just Another Poet, Niall Campbell, 5 November 2024
Niall Campbell was interviewed by Taz Rahman for the Just Another Poet video series. Niall was filmed reading poems from his third collection The Island in the Sound as well as responding to questions about growing up on South Uist, his poetry, poetic inspirations and his plans for Poetry London. Niall read and introduced his poems ‘The Apprenticeship’, ‘Morning Lessons’, ‘The Windows’, ‘The Death of the Birds’ and ‘Island Sonnets: Delos’, all from The Island in the Sound.
‘Taz Rahman interviews the Bloodaxe poet and Poetry London editor Niall Campbell.’
POEM OF THE WEEK FEATURE FOR NIALL CAMPBELL
The Scotsman, Poem of the Week, Saturday 5 October 2024
Niall Campbell’s poem ‘A Man Carrying His Own Door’ from his third collection The Island in the Sound was featured as Poem of the Week in The Scotsman magazine of 5 October. The poem was accompanied by an introductory comment.
'The poems in the book place his Hebridean homeland in an ever-shifting mosaic of tidal gifts, memories, folklore, conversations and people. Always there is an awareness of the sea that surrounds, that change is constant, and that there is no going back.’ – The Scotsman, Poem of the Week
In print only.
NIALL CAMPBELL INTERVIEWED ON LANTERN SCOTTISH POETRY PODCAST
Lantern Scottish Poetry - Inheritance: Niall Campbell, podcast released 15 December 2023
Niall Campbell was interviewed for the first live recording of the Lantern Scottish Poetry podcast. It was recorded in front of an audience at the Push the Boat Out festival in Edinburgh in November 2023. Niall read poems from his two Bloodaxe collections and discussed about homes and poetic homes with podcast hosts Ally Heather and Scotland’s Makar Kathleen Jamie. He also spoke about growing up on South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. Niall read ''The Letter Always Arrives at its Destination’' and ‘The Work’ from Moontide, and ‘The Night Watch’ and ‘Good Night’ from Noctuary.
‘Multi-award winning poet Niall Campbell joins Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and host Alistair Heather on stage at the poetry festival 2023. Our theme is inheritance and tradition.’
Poems from Moontide featured at the top of the episode, and Niall read his poems from Noctuary from 18:15. https://open.spotify.com/episode/1kkt7YHnIKU76bs0tuBq9z
NIALL CAMPBELL PRESENTS BBC RADIO 3's THE ESSAY
The Essay: An Turas / The Journey, BBC Radio 3, Wednesday 15 November 2023, 10.45pm
Scottish poet Niall Campbell presented and contributed to special edition of BBC Radio 3’s The Essay featuring five writers from Scotland, who all narrated a piece in their own language or dialect (with no translation).
Niall Campbell now lives in Fife, but was brought up on the island of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides. He recorded this piece for BBC Radio 3 on the island, looking out to sea – or The Sound, as it is known. In his third collection The Island in the Sound, published in September 2024, Niall returns to South Uist, which was the inspiration for much of his award-winning debut collection Moontide.
The other four writers were Rahat Zahid, speaking in Urdu from Glasgow, Len Pennie in Scots from Fife, Peter MacKay in his native Gaelic from Edinburgh, and Mae Diansangu, speaking from Aberdeen in the Doric dialect of north east Scotland.
‘Five celebrated writers from around Scotland sit at their nearest window and share, in their own language or dialect, what they can see and how it makes them feel about their homeland. This immersive audio collage takes us on a tour of modern Scotland's plurality of languages, dialects and cultures. Niall Campbell of Hebridean South Uist lets his eyes scan the waters of his island, and his mind wander beneath the waves. He considers, in English, the Norse influence in the naming of his surroundings.’
This beautiful multi-lingual audio feature will remain available on BBC Sounds. Listen here.
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ONLINE LAUNCH READING
Tuesday 24 September 2024
Online launch reading by Nia Broomhall, Niall Campbell, Sarah Holland-Batt and Laura Wittner, with translator Juana Adcock. Niall Campbell joined the authors of our other September titles to celebrate the publication of their books with readings and discussion. He was reading from his third collection The Island in the Sound.
This free Bloodaxe launch event was streamed on YouTube Live and is now availabe on this YouTube page: https://youtube.com/live/GIeiEhAvavQ
[10 October 2024]
