Campbell's works, which are written mainly in Scottish Gaelic, draw heavily upon both Hebridean mythology and folklore and the magic realism of recent Latin American literature.
His mother, Christina MacDonald (Scottish Gaelic: Ciorstaidh Eòghainn Mhòr 'ic Dhòmhnaill 'ic Aonghais 'ic Alastair), was from Garrynamonie.
His paternal uncle, Neil Campbell (Scottish Gaelic: Niall Mòr), was a long serving ferryman between Ludag, Eriskay, and Barra.
[4] Campbell remains grateful to Smith for having exposed him to international literature at a time and place where such instruction was unusual; William Shakespeare's Hamlet one day, Duncan Ban MacIntyre the next.
One day he would bring in an LP of Beethoven and play it then ask us to write a poem in response; the next he might read us the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 6 – 'Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these' – just for the joy of the words (I can still hear him reading these words); the next day again he would introduce us to Lowell, or Ginsberg, or Arthur Miller.
His novel, An Oidhche Mus do Sheòl Sinn, published by CLÀR, was voted by the public into the Top Ten of the 100 Best-Ever Books from Scotland in the Orange/List Awards.
The work draws heavily on Hebridean mythology and folklore and Scottish history, magic realism and a number of other influences.
[13] In 2006, Campbell expanded his acting career, starring in the Scottish Gaelic feature film Seachd: The Inaccessible Pinnacle.