author
James Hogg
1770–1835
A self-taught shepherd who became one of Scotland’s most distinctive literary voices, he brought Border songs, folk memory, and uncanny imagination into the heart of the Romantic era. Best known as the “Ettrick Shepherd,” he wrote with a mix of wit, storytelling energy, and eerie power that still feels fresh.
7 Audiobooks
The Brownie of Bodsbeck, and Other Tales (Vol. 1 of 2)
by James Hogg
The Brownie of Bodsbeck, and Other Tales (Vol. 2 of 2)
by James Hogg
The Shepherd's Calendar. Volume I (of II)
by James Hogg
About the author
Born in Ettrick, Selkirkshire, and baptized in December 1770, James Hogg grew up in a rural shepherding family and had only limited formal schooling. Much of his education came from his own reading, and his early life as a shepherd shaped both his voice and the world of his writing.
Hogg became known as the “Ettrick Shepherd,” a name that captured both his background and his public identity. He wrote poetry, songs, essays, and fiction in both Scots and English, and he moved in the wider literary world of his day, including the circle around Sir Walter Scott.
He is now especially remembered as a major Scottish writer of the Romantic period and as the author of The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, a dark, inventive novel that helped secure his lasting reputation. He died on November 21, 1835, at Altrive in Yarrow, in the Borders country that remained central to his imagination.