> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.opendemocracy.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Writing Scotland
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/writing-scotland/
- Published: 2008-01-12T23:01:22.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:39:03.000Z
- Author: openDemocracy Supporters
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:31

**Anthony Barnett (London,** [**OK**](http://ourkingdom.opendemocracy.net/?ref=opendemocracy.net)**):** At the end of my recent post on the fate of Peter Hain I noted the way events favour the nationalists if not the break-up of Britain. A small story covered by BBC Scotland but not, to my knowledge, any London paper provides another illustration. At the [end of December](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk%5Fnews/scotland/7157708.stm?ref=opendemocracy.net) the Library of Congress decided to reclassify Scottish literature as a sub-category of, wait for it, English literature. Huge row. Now a [u-turn](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk%5Fnews/scotland/7184769.stm?ref=opendemocracy.net). One that means the category of "Scottish writer" has been newly recognised by the Library of Congress, whose classifications set a global standard. What might once have been a literary or academic correction has become a political statement.

PS: interesting reflection on this and British writing by David, aka Britology Watch, in the comments below, thx David.