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Billy Kay

BILLY KAY

  
Nationality:    Scottish
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Writer and broadcaster Billy Kay was born in Galston, ayrshire on 24 Sep 1951, and educated at Galston High School, Kilmarnock academy and Edinburgh University. His company Odyssey Productions produces documentaries on Scottish cultural history for BBC Radio Scotland, winning five international awards for series like the Complete Caledonian Imbiber. as a producer with the BBC he created the acclaimed oral history series Odyssey, and edited two books on the subject. Television series he has presented include Haud Yer Tongue for Channel 4 Schools and Miners for BBC Scotland. He has written two plays for radio, Jute and Lucky's Strike, and one for Dundee Rep, they Fairly Make Ye Work, while his poetry and short stories appear in several anthologies. He is co-author, with Cailean Maclean of the book Knee Deep in Claret and his work promoting wine has been recognized with two awards in the United Kingdom. In France he has been honoured with membership of both the Jurade de St emilion and the Commanderie du Bontemps de Medoc et des Graves. He is a passionate advocate of the Scots language and author of the classic work Scots: the Mither Tongue. His latest book on the Scottish diaspora the Scottish World was recently published in paperback in Britain, Canada and America. Billy has given talks on Burns, wine, the Scots language and the Scottish diaspora at venues as diverse as New Cumnock Burns Club and the Library of Congress in Washington DC. In 2009 he was given an honorary Doctorate from the University of the West of Scotland. In addition to his native languages, Scots and English, Billy speaks French, German and Portuguese. He is married to Maria Joćo de almeida da Cruz Diniz and they have three children, Joanna, Catriona and euan.

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below is a list of Billy Kay's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Lucky's Strike         they Fairly Mak Ye Work

Lucky's Strike

Synopsis:
the 1984/85 Miner's Strike as it affects an ayrshire family and their greyhound Lucky.

Notes:
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1st Produced:
BBC Scotland    -

Organisations:
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1st Published:
-   -

Music:
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To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Radio Play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
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they Fairly Mak Ye Work

Synopsis:
the life of Dundee jute spinners and weavers in the early part of the 20th century

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
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1st Published:
Typescript in National Library of Scotland and Dundee Rep   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  several            Female:  several            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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