The writer Katharine Stewart is to receive the Saltire Society Highland Branch Award for Contribution to the Understanding of Highland Culture, at a ceremony to be held in the Beaufort Hotel, Inverness on Saturday 9 April at 2 pm. Mrs Stewart is the fourth recipient of the award, which is given on this occasion in recognition of her outstanding literary output and her authentic portrayal of the life and culture of the Highlands. The presentation will be made by outgoing Branch Convener, Dr Alastair Scott-Brown.

She was born in 1914, and after her mother died when Katharine was only 8, she moved to Edinburgh with her father, who taught at Loretto, and she was brought up by an aunt. During the war, she worked for the Admiralty in London, and after the war came to live in Abriachan, in
the hills above Loch Ness. As well as running a croft and being involved with community affairs, she wrote short stories and documentaries for the BBC.

She was instrumental in setting up the museum at Abriachan and her interest in rural life led to articles for the Scots magazine and the Weekly Scotsman and books starting in 1960 with A Croft in the Hills (with a foreword by Neil Gunn). Others include Crofts and Crofting, A
Garden in the Hills, A School in the Hills, The Post in the Hills and The Crofting Way. In his foreword to The Crofting Way, then Crofters Commission Chairman Iain MacAskill speaks of her love and appreciation of the heritage and culture of the crofting community with whom she had been so actively involved.

45 years after the publication of her first book, she is currently working on two books and continues with her research, maintains her keen interest in local and rural affairs and is an excellent speaker.

For more information contact Eric Allan, Secretary 01463 717811, e-mail eric@heallan.com