Born in Kyle cover art

Born in Kyle

A Love Letter tae an Ayrshire Childhood (Scots Edition)

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Born in Kyle

By: Billy Kay
Narrated by: Billy Kay
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About this listen

One of the most important figures in the Scots revival of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is Billy Kay. Through radio, television, plays, creative writing and especially his hugely influential book Scots The Mither Tongue, Kay’s work helped change people’s negative perception of Scots and paved the way for its acceptance as a key element in Scottish cultural identity.

In Born in Kyle Kay goes back to his own linguistic and cultural roots and celebrates a sense of place and belonging in his native Galston in Ayrshire’s Irvine Valley. Looking back, Kay realises that his was the last of the pre-television generations, and life was lived in a strong Scots-speaking environment which would be eroded when television in English was beamed into every household from the early 1960s onwards.

In a vivid, gutsy and realistic Scots prose shot through with humour, Kay brings alive the characters he grew up with, some in personally recalled memoirs, others in short stories which bring out a history and a literary history inherited by local folk going back hundreds of years. This is his love letter to working class life in small town Scotland.

©2023 Billy Kay (P)2023 Billy Kay Cultural & Regional Scotland Highlander

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All stars
Most relevant
Superb reminiscing of community once common across Scotland. Fantastic re-telling by the author mostly lost in broad Scots. A real treasure, I enjoyed it immensely.

Warmth!

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Like Billy Kay I was born in Ayrshire in the early’50s so much of the book reminds me of my childhood. I had the advantage of living on the coast though in sight of the Arran hills! Billy has reminded me of words I don’t hear in Kent where I live now-but some I do still often use. He tells some great stories of his family and neighbours in guid Scots! Being a lad he could be more adventurous (hitch hiking in Europe at 15; not for lassies back then!) Much enjoyed

Ayrshire as I remember it

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