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Edinburgh based, she has been part of the Scottish literary community for many years. Her teaching and writing cover Scottish, English and American literary and historical subjects.
She has written 28 books on literary and historical subjects, including biographies of Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Orwell and Naomi Mitchison and books on Scottish history and Scottish emigration. She has a particular research interest in emigration and the Scottish diaspora. She worked at the National Museums of Scotland from 1978 to 2001 and latterly as Head of Museum of Scotland International. In 2003 she helped to organise the National Museums of Scotland's exhibition called 'Trailblazers - the Scots in Canada'. She was president of Scottish PEN, a not-for-profit organisation that champions freedom of expression and literature across borders.
She writes fiction and poetry as Jenni Daiches.
She was formerly married to Angus Calder, and is the daughter of David Daiches a prominent Scottish, Jewish, writer, critic and historian. She was born in the US and spent time in Kenya. Her book ''Not Nebuchadnezzar'' is a partly a biography and a '''chronicle of the consuming search for that elusive concept known as 'identity''''. She has spoken out about anti-antisemitism.
On the question of Scottish independence; of 27 Scottish authors whose opinion was sought, Calder was one of only two offering a definite No.
