MacNeacail was born in Uig on the Isle of Skye on 7 June 1942.^[1] He was raised in Idrigil, speaking Gaelic as a child.^[2] He was registered at birth as Angus Nicolson, but later changed his official name to "Aonghas MacNeacail," the Scottish Gaelic version of his name. He attended Uig Primary School and Portree High School, and from 1968 the University of Glasgow^[2] where he was one of a group of young writers who gathered around Philip Hobsbaum which also included James Kelman, Tom Leonard, Alasdair Gray, Liz Lochhead and Jeff Torrington.

Besides drawing on Gaelic traditions, MacNeacail was influenced by the Black Mountain School of the United States. He held writing fellowships in Scotland, including residences at the Gaelic college of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, and read his work at festivals around the world. He collaborated with musicians and visual artists, and written drama. His poetry has been widely published throughout the English speaking world in journals such as Ploughshares, Poetry Australia, World Poetry Almanac, and JuxtaProse Literary Magazine. He also received wide recognition and critical acclaim for his screenwriting and songwriting.

MacNeacail won the Stakis Prize for Scottish Writer of the Year with his third collection, Oideachadh Ceart ("A Proper Schooling and other poems"), in 1997. His collection Laoidh an Donais òig ("Hymn to a Young Demon") was published by Polygon in 2007. He was the partner of the actor and writer Gerda Stevenson.^[3]

MacNeacail died in December 2022, at the age of 80.^[4][5]

• Official website
• Textualities entry
• Aonghas MacNeacail discography at Discogs
• Aonghas MacNeacail at IMDb