A BORDERS librarian is hoping to encourage young people to embrace Scots through his translations of famous children’s stories.

Thomas Clark, who works as a librarian at Hawick High School, released two Scots translations of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series – Diary o a Wimpy Wean – in September and October.

Thomas has spoken Scots since he was a young boy, but said growing up on the west coast of Scotland came with the language being stigmatised and was something which was beaten out of you.

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“People in the Borders speak it [Scots] unselfconsciously,” he said. “It’s not perceived as having something to say about you.

“They [Borderers] don’t think of people poorly if they speak it.

“Living in the Borders has helped me reconnect with Scots.”

In 2018 Thomas released his first Diary o a Wimpy Wean translation, and in September and October this year the Rodrick the Radge and Up Tae the Oxters editions were published.

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For Thomas, sharing Scots with young people is a passion of his.

“It’s hugely important to encourage children to use Scots,” he said. “As you grow up you lose it.

“And it’s discouraged in a lot of formal settings.

“If I read a Scots book as a kid maybe I wouldn’t have lost it.

“It’s something to be proud of.”

Thomas explained that the Diary o a Wimpy Wean books follow the “trials and tribulations” of everyday school life for the main character – Greg.

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He added that ‘thematically’ Up Tae the Oxters “relates to the pandemic as the family are stuck together for a long time.

“It’s rooted in a universal experience.

“It’s been great to represent that in Scots.”

This year Thomas has also worked on Scots translations of classic Hans Christian Anderson tales, and will work on translating Snow White for a books of Grimm fairytales in Scots.

Diary o a Wimpy Wean can be bought from all good book stores, but it is also available through Amazon and publishers Black & White Publishing.