Raasay
The poet Sorley MacLean was born in Osgaig, a small crofting community on the west coast of the island; perhaps his most famous poem is about "Hallaig", an abandoned community on the east coast. MacLean's writings often combine an ancient traditional awareness, with a modernist political outlook, in which Raasay, and the areas adjacent to it are frequently referenced. But while MacLean's work dwells on the brutality of war, of the Highland Clearances and modern exploitation, he also writes about nature. Thus, although the Clearances leave an empty landscape populated only by the ghosts of those evicted or forced to emigrate, "Time, the deer, is in the Wood of Hallaig".
Andrew Young McLean
He was born in Seaforth, Ontario, the son of Keith M. McLean and the grandson of Murdo Young McLean, and attended the School of Architecture at the University of Toronto. In 1934, he was named a justice of the peace for Huron County. McLean served as a squadron leader in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He became editor and publisher of the "Huron Expositor" after his father's death in 1948. He was a member of the Canadian delegation to the United Nations in 1952. McLean was an unsuccessful candidate for the Huron seat in the House of Commons in 1953 and 1957. He served as president of the Ontario Weekly Newspapers Association from 1967 to 1968 and of the Canadian Community Newspapers Association from 1973 to 1974. In 1986, he was editor of the Huron County Atlas published by Huron County.