The clock is ticking on the Kickstarter campaign supporting Anna Ruadh, a translation of Anne of Green Gables into Scottish Gaelic. Supporters have until midnight June 30 (Maritime time) to contribute to the crowdfunding campaign (click here).

As a stretch goal incentive, if the campaign raises CA$2,000 more than the original CA$15,000 goal, the cover illustrator will create original pen-and-ink chapter heading illustrations for the book.

Anna Ruadh is the latest Gaelic publishing project from Bradan Press of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and its founder, president and editor, Emily McEwan. Bradan Press came to life in 2016, with the publication of the Scottish Gaelic Tattoo Handbook, a “think before you ink” guide written by McEwan.

Since that colorful start, Bradan Press has produced several works, including two volumes of bagpipe music by collected by Barry Shears, and collections of Scottish Gaelic poetry by Lodaidh MacFhionghain, Marion F. NicIlleMhoire, Calum L. MacLeòid, and Marcus Mac an Tuairneir.

Canadian author L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables has been translated into more than 30 languages, but not into Scottish Gaelic, even though Gaelic has close cultural and historical connections to the author and Prince Edward Island. “We feel this is a major oversight, connected to the way that Gaels and Gaelic have been deliberately erased from Maritime and Canadian culture and history,” McEwan said in launching the crowdfunding campaign.

Bradan’s goal is to create a translation imbued with the charm and appeal of the original, while subtly localizing the story to represent Maritime Canadian Gaelic culture as well.

Mòrag Anna NicNèill, originally from the Isle of Harris and now a resident of the Isle of Barra in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, will translate Anne of Green Gables for the publisher. NicNèill has translated five children’s books from Scottish Gaelic to English and has written four original children’s books in Gaelic.

The planned publication date for Anna Ruadh is June 30, 2020. Bradan hope to launch the book in Prince Edward Island following the L.M. Montgomery Institute’s Fourteenth Biennial Conference, 25-28 June, 2020. Contributors to the Kickstarter campaign will receive a variety of rewards, based on their contributions.

Visit Bradan Press and Kickstarter for more information.