William Soutar
William Soutar is arguably Perth's most famous literary son, and stands among the leading group of all Scottish poets.
He died tragically young at the age of 45 in 1943, having spent many years virtually bed-ridden. He wrote beautifully in both Scots and English and was well-respected within the literary world community. Two volumes of his poetry have been published by Perth and Kinross Libraries and these can be purchased following the instructions given on the Library Publications page.
As a tribute to Soutar, Perth and Kinross library service set up a William Soutar website in 2001. It takes the form of a stroll around Perth and its immediate environs, stopping at places referred to in Soutar's work. At some of these stops readings are performed by William Soutar fellows. The William Soutar Fellowship was set up as a writer-in-residency, and the post was held by a number of Scotland's current leading writers from its inauguration in the 1980s.
The library service still has stewardship of the Soutar House at 27 Wilson Street in Perth. Soutar's room, at the back of the house with its picture window looking onto the back garden, remains as it was when Soutar died. The house has been used by Soutar Fellows and is currently used for writers' groups and literary events. The library headquarters in York Place also houses the Scots Language Resource Centre, which has its own website.
