About: Màiri Mhòr nan Òran

Mary MacPherson (née MacDonald), known as Màiri Mhòr nan Òran (English: Great Mary of the Songs) or simply Màiri Mhòr (10 March 1821 – 7 November 1898), was a Scottish Gaelic poet from the Isle of Skye, whose work focused on the Highland Clearances and the land struggle. Although she could read her own work when written she could not write it in Gaelic. She retained her songs and poems in her memory until others wrote them down for publication. She often referred to herself as Màiri Nighean Iain Bhàin (Mary, daughter of fair haired John), the name by which she would have been known in the Skye of her childhood.