Paying homage to a city icon

A biography of a radical folk singer and writer from Dundee is being launched in the city this week.

The Abertay Historical Society’s latest publication In One Woman’s Life – Celebrating Mary Brooksbank, is to be unveiled at an event in the Steps Theatre in Dundee Central Library tomorrow at 6pm.

Mary Brooksbank was born Mary Soutar on December 15 1897. She worked in Dundee’s jute mills from her early teens, quickly recognising a world ill-divided.

All her days Brooksbank remained committed to activism to improve lives in her community.

Prominent in Dundee’s labour movement, she was a well-known figure in the city during her lifetime and was celebrated widely during the Scottish Folk Revival in the mid 20th Century.

After her death in 1978, aged 80, she became the only woman to feature on the Scottish Parliament’s Canongate wall with an extract from her Jute Mill Song.

Edited by Erin Farley and Siobhan Tolland, the AHS’S collection of essays – the first book to be published on Mary Brooksbank apart from her autobiography – marks the 125th anniversary of her birth by celebrating her contributions to politics, literature and folk song in Scotland from a variety of perspectives, both personal and historic, as well as placing her in the broader cultural and political context of 20th Century Dundee.

The book features contributions by Kenneth Baxter, Caroline Brown, Stewart Brown, Ruth Ewan, Erin Farle, Mary Mcgregor, Emily Robinson, Siobhan Tolland and Sheena Wellington.

Tomorrow’s launch will feature short talks by the authors, with refreshments served afterwards. Anyone wishing to attend should make a booking online via tinyurl. com/ahsbrooksbank