Peter MacKay/Pàdraig MacAoidh, poet, senior lecturer (University of St. Andrews), broadcaster, and, since 2024, Scotland’s Makar, considers, as a Scottish poet, not just a Gaelic one, Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair. The greatest Gaelic poet of the 18th century, Gaelic tutor to Bonnie Prince Charlie, his Jacobite vehemence, and sexual explicitness (exceeding that, for some 19th-century critics, of Burns or even Rochester), meant that his work was subjected to political and moral censure in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Booking for Highlight Talks at the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum is recommended to guarantee entry. Due to limited capacity in the venue, any available seats will be allocated to attendees on a first-come, first-served basis, meaning that entry cannot be guaranteed without a booking.

Doors open at 2.15pm