Hallaig is the most recognized poem of Sorley MacLean, an important Scottish poet of the 20th century. After writing it, MacLean rose to fame in the English-speaking world. It was originally written in Scottish Gaelic since the author was born on the island of Raasay, where Scottish Gaelic was the everyday language. During the course of time the poem has been translated into both English and Lowland Scots. A recent translation (2002) was made by Seamus Heaney, an Irish Nobel Prize winner.

Sorley MacLean was a Scottish Gaelic poet, described by the Scottish Poetry Library as "one of the major Scottish poets of the modern era" because of his "mastery of his chosen medium and his engagement with the European poetic tradition and European politics". Nobel Prize Laureate Seamus Heaney credited MacLean with saving Scottish Gaelic poetry.