literature

52d

Book launch: A Wee Bit Zen, by Alan Spence
7 October, Typewronger Books, Edinburgh – free

Haiku & senryu, translations from the Japanese; found poems, sound poems, visual & text poems, puns & one-liners, overheard word-on-the-street poems, everyday zen – this new collection of short-form poetry from Alan Spence is a descendant of his bestselling cult classic GLASGOW ZEN

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-wee-bit-zen-a-new-poetry-collection-by-alan-spence-tickets-2001775231604

#Scottish #literature #poetry #booklaunch #Edinburgh #Zen #haiku #senryu #translation

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22d

Why Pronouns Matter in Science Fiction

Readers should be invited to identify with nonbinary protagonists, and gain a new perspective on old beliefs.

By Annalee Newitz

https://reactormag.com/why-pronouns-matter-in-science-fiction/

A Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay & Books in Precursors of Science Fiction at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1329
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/62

#books #literature #sciencefiction

David Lindsay borrowed the names "Surtur" and "Muspel" from Surtr, the lord of Múspellsheimr, shown here in a 1909 painting by John Charles Dollman.

A black-and-white illustration of a huge, long-bearded, bare-chested giant rising from icy mountains, one hand gripping a ledge as the other raises a gleaming sword overhead. Snow swirls through the stormy sky. Signed “JCD” at lower right.

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52d

“Scottish authors Susan Ferrier and Mary Brunton […] were popular and widely read in their own historical moment. As their names suggest, these were works concerned with propriety and expectation, but they were also experimental in their own ways.”

Dr Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman on two Scottish female novelists who outsold & inspired Jane Austen

https://theconversation.com/the-two-scottish-female-novelists-who-outsold-and-inspired-jane-austen-290405

#Scottish #literature #18thcentury #19thcentury #Regency #womenwriters #SusanFerrier #MaryBrunton #JaneAusten

the-two-scottish-female-novelists-who-outsold-and-inspired-jane-austen-290405

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72d

An lùib na droighne
anns an dris-choille
tha meas an fhoghair
toradh mo ghràidh…

—Niall O’Gallagher, “Crindreas”

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/crindreas/

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #poem #poetry #autumn

Crindreas
Niall O’Gallagher

An lùib na droighne
anns an dris-choille
tha meas an fhoghair
toradh mo ghràidh

is dealt na maidne
a’ fàgail taise
a’ gleansadh air a
craiceann làn.

Tha brìgh na deirce
mìlse nas seirbhe
na gèire deilge
a’ stailceadh làimh’

ach dh’aindeoin bhioran
bu mhi a spioladh
is le mo bhilean
bhlaisinn àgh.

Bramble
Niall O’Gallagher

Translated by Deborah Moffatt

Amongst the thorns
in the thicket of brambles,
the autumn berry
is my heart’s desire,

the damp sheen
of the morning dew
gleaming bright on
its full ripe skin.

The sap of the sweet berry
is sharper than the thorn
that pierces the thin skin
of the plundering hand,

but I would pick my fill,
in spite of the pricks
that my lips might taste
the glory of the bramble.

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72d

Why we love literary anniversaries

This special year saw a variety of high-profile celebratory events across the country, from regency balls and film screenings, to special tours and literary talks.

by Amy Wilcockson (from the archives)

https://theconversation.com/why-we-love-literary-anniversaries-273375

Gulliver’s Travels, The Last Man, Winnie-the-Pooh, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17157
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18247
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67098
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69087

#books #literature #literary_classics

First edition cover of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd.

The cover illustration depicts a woman with red hair in period dress, standing at a desk with an old-style telephone, appearing to search through or discover papers.

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72d

The Most Remote Place on Earth Has Space Junk and a Sea Monster

Eerie things happen at Point Nemo.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/strange-maps-point-nemo

At PG:

Jules Verne

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/60

H.P. Lovecraft

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/34724

#books #literature

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72d

“Though her characters struggle, their hardship does not sanctify them. Theirs is not an ennobling suffering. ‘I don’t write about people that are nice people,’ Owens said. ‘They’ve got to be sinners, with a wee touch of goodness here and there, you know.’”

Roxani Krystalli on Agnes Owens, in GUTTER Magazine

https://www.guttermag.co.uk/reviews/a-wee-touch-of-goodness

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #AgnesOwens #workingclass #workingclasswriters

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72d

Currently available on BBC Sounds: A WORKING MOTHER, by Agnes Owens

Ten years after WW2, our unreliable narrator Betty – arch, witty, clever – is married with children & feels trapped. While her husband, Adam, drinks and complains, Betty plots her escape…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030x96

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #AgnesOwens #workingclass #workingclasswriters #audiobooks

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72d

Queer Scottish Voices: the suspended blue blue air
16 September, Typewronger Books, Edinburgh. Free, ticketed

Join host Iain Morrison for an evening with Scottish poets David Kinloch & Colin Herd, & hear them read from their latest books & talk about what queer poetics means to them today in Scotland.

The evening is raising money for the Terrance Higgins Trust in Glasgow.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/queer-scottish-voices-the-suspended-blue-blue-air-tickets-1998667800193

#Scottish #literature #poetry #LGBTQ #queer #queerliterature #Edinburgh

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71d

What Gulliver Saw

by Katie Ebner-Landy

Gulliver’s Travels uses the land of the Houyhnhnms and Yahoos to explore whether being recognized as human is based on observable characteristics.

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v48/n16/katie-ebner-landy/cursed-race

Gulliver's travels (in several languages) at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gulliver%27s+travels

#books #literature

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71d

"The scientific genius is so like the old Hebrew prophet. He singles out the essential from the mass of facts before him, and then - lifts up his eyes."

The Way of Escape: A Novel, 1902.

~Margaret Todd (23 April 1859 – 3 September 1918)

She coined the term isotope in 1913 in a suggestion to chemist Frederick Soddy.

Books by Graham Travers (aka Margaret Todd) at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/47770

#books #literature

Scan of a picture of Margaret Todd, the physician who wrote under the name Graham Travers. She also suggested the term "isotope" to Frederick Soddy for his discovery.

Black-and-white photographic portrait of a woman with dark hair pulled back, wearing a light-colored blouse with a decorative brooch/flower corsage and a beaded necklace.

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71d

The mile-high buildings flashed, flushed, greyed, went dark,
greyed, flushed, flashed, chameleons under flak
of cloud and sun…

—Edwin Morgan, “Clydegrad”
from CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)

Today, 3 September, is Skyscraper Day

1/2

https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #sonnet #skyscraper #SkyscraperDay #EdwinMorgan #Glasgow #scifipoetry

Clydegrad
Edwin Morgan

It was so fine we lingered there for hours.
The long broad streets shone strongly after rain.
Sunset blinded the tremble of the crane
we watched from, dazed the heliport-towers.
The mile-high buildings flashed, flushed, greyed, went dark,
greyed, flushed, flashed, chameleons under flak
of cloud and sun. The last far thunder-sack
ripped and spilled its grumble. Ziggurat-stark,
a power-house reflected in the lead
of the old twilight river leapt alive
lit up at every window, and a boat
of students rowed past, slid from black to red
into the blaze. But where will they arrive
with all, boat, city, earth, like them, afloat?

Book cover

EDWIN MORGAN
CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS

edited by
HAMISH WHYTE

Carcanet Classics

The cover image shows a view looking up the face of a concrete tower block, angled against a star-strewn sky – as if the skyscraper was a starship, cruising the cosmos.

Edited 71d ago

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71d

Nothing But The Poem – Imtiaz Dharker

The Scottish Poetry Library’s resident podcast host Sam Tongue takes a deep dive into two poems – “Bairn” & “Stitch” – by one of Britain’s most beloved poets, Imtiaz Dharker.

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/nothing-but-the-poem-imtiaz-dharker/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #ImtiazDharker #podcast

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71d

Afro-Scottish Events 2026: Voices Beyond Borders
11 September, Glasgow – £0–£15

Afro-Scottish Events returns with an evening of poetry, music, culture & community celebrating the stories, sounds & experiences that connect us across borders

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afro-scottish-events-2026-tickets-1990760184301

#Scottish #AfroScottish #literature #poetry #music #storytelling #culture

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71d

Seasonal Quartet: Ali Smith & New European Ensemble
30 October, Aberdeen: £0–£14

A concert performance with live readings by Ali Smith from her novels 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘯, 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, focussing on eternally relevant contemporary themes such as climate, ecology, migrations, social media, Brexit, war, populism.

https://sound-scotland.co.uk/event/seasonal-quartet-ali-smith-writer-new-european-ensemble

#Scottish #literature #novel #AliSmith #music #classicalmusic

Ali Smith reading from her novel WINTER. Behind her, a cellist holds his instrument and bow, ready to play.

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22d

In the lift there is nae steer
And in the schaw nae soun’:
Saftly through the cauld air
The grey smurr comes doun…

—William Soutar, “October”
Published in William Soutar: Collected Works, vol. 1 (Tippermuir Books, 2024)

https://tippermuirbooks.co.uk/product/william-soutar-collected-works-vols-1-2/

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #autumn #October

October
by William Soutar

In the lift there is nae steer
And in the schaw nae soun’:
Saftly through the cauld air
The grey smurr comes doun.

Haar gethers on the hill
Like quiet owre a sang:
The failin year has said fareweel
And yet is laith to gang.

Sae lowden’d is the dreich day
The bluid begins to speak:
Whan ye ken what it wud say
You’ll be by a’ hert-brek.

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22d

Night Eater
by Louise Welsh

Currently on BBC Sounds: An ambitious young librarian journeys deep into the Bavarian forest in search of ancient folk tales, & encounters a mysterious “wise woman”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m003247l

#Scottish #literature #shortfiction #shortstory #folklore

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70d

My unsung hero of science: Harriet Taylor Mill, the radical feminist philosopher who lived in the shadow of her husband

I first heard about Harriet Taylor Mill when reading about her much more famous collaborator and future husband, the British philosopher and politician John Stuart Mill.

by Helen McCabe

https://theconversation.com/my-unsung-hero-of-science-harriet-taylor-mill-the-radical-feminist-philosopher-who-lived-in-the-shadow-of-her-husband-290875

Books by Harriet Mill at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/57060

#books #literature

Portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The painting shows Harriet Mill with a golden-yellow gown, a jeweled headpiece, and a Mediterranean-style landscape visible in the background.

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70d

Seven scythes leaned at the wall.
Beard upon golden beard
The last barley load
Swayed through the yard…

—George Mackay Brown, “Taxman”
Published in CARVE THE RUNES (Polygon, 2021)

https://birlinn.co.uk/product/carve-the-runes/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Orkney #farming #farminghistory #harvest #GeorgeMacKayBrown

Taxman
by George Mackay Brown

Seven scythes leaned at the wall.
Beard upon golden beard
The last barley load
Swayed through the yard.
The girls uncorked the ale.
Fiddle and feet moved together.
Then between stubble and heather
A horseman rode.

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70d

Reading by Touch: Scotland’s early tactile reading systems

What came before braille? Scotland played a key role in the early history of reading by touch, opening new possibilities for blind readers in the 19th century. Taylor Hare explores embossed pages, knotted strings & radical alphabets

https://www.nls.uk/collections/stories/printing-and-publishing/reading-by-touch/

#Scottish #literature #Scotland #BookHistory #blind #19thcentury #braille #printhistory #printing #bookmaking

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51d

Yestreen I heard a birdie sing
Inbye a bonnie beech tree hedge
As if it didnae ken nor care
Autumn wis hidin in the sedge…

—Sheena Blackhall, “Autumn XI”

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/autumn-ix/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Autumn

Autumn IX
Sheena Blackhall

Yestreen I heard a birdie sing
Inbye a bonnie beech tree hedge
As if it didnae ken nor care
Autumn wis hidin in the sedge

The daith o leaves is roon the neuk
It peints them yalla, reid an broon
An doon they’ll drap like faain rain
In waesome Autumn’s dowie croon

Sic cheenges cam tae great an sma
First ae grey hair, a nippin knee
The stert o auld age: clawin cleuks
That herald yer mortality

Autumn draws near, like cat wi moose
It winna stop, nor else devaul
A jeelin in a body’s banes
A cheenge, the turn frae warm tae caul

Noo blawin in the win, dry leaves
Like Simmer’s ghaists, ethereal
This is the Sizzen o the scythe
The nichts draw in, a mournin pall

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69d

Daft gowk, in macaroni dress,
Are ye come here to shaw your face,
Bowden wi’ pride o’ simmer gloss,
To cast a dash at Reikie’s cross…

—“On Seeing a Butterfly in the Street”, by Robert Fergusson (1750–1774) – born #OTD, 5 Sept. In his short life he reinvigorated #poetry in Scots. A 🎂🧵

1/10

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #18thcentury #Edinburgh #RobertFergusson

On Seeing a Butterfly in the Street
Robert Fergusson

Daft gowk, in macaroni dress,
Are ye come here to shaw your face,
Bowden wi’ pride o’ simmer gloss,
To cast a dash at Reikie’s cross;
And glowr at mony a twa-legg’d creature,
Flees, braw by art, tho’ worms by nature?

Like country laird in city cleeding,
Ye’re come to town to lear’ good breeding;
To bring ilk darling toast and fashion
In vogue amang the flee creation,
That they, like buskit belles and beaux,
May crook their mou’ fu’ sour at those
Whase weird is still to creep, alas!
Unnotic’d ʼmang the humble grass;
While you, wi’ wings new buskit trim,
Can far frae yird and reptiles skim;
Newfangle grown wi’ new-got form,
You soar aboon your mither worm.

Kind Nature lent but for a day
Her wings to mak ye sprush and gay;
In her habuliments a while
Ye may your former sell beguile,
And ding awa’ the vexing thought
O’ hourly dwinin’ into nought,
By beengin’ to your foppish brithers,
Black corbies dress’d in peacock’s feathers;
Like thee they dander here and there,
Whan Simmer’s blinks are warm and fair,
And lo’e to snuff the healthy balm,
Whan E’enin’ spreads her wing sae calm;
But whan she girns and glow’rs sae dour
Frae Borean houff in angry show’r,
Like thee they scour frae street or field,
And hap them in a lyther bield;
For they were never made to dree
The adverse gloom o’ Fortune’s e’e,
Nor ever pried life’s pinin’ woes,
Nor pu’d the prickles wi’ the rose.

Poor Butterfly! thy case I mourn,
To green kail-yard and fruits return:
How could you troke the mavis’ note
For “penny pies all-pipin’ hot?”
Can lintie’s music be compar’d
Wi’ gruntles frae the City Guard?
Or can our flow’rs, at ten hour’s bell,
The gowan or the spink excel?

Now shou’d our sclates wi’ hailstanes ring,
What cabbage-fauld wad screen your wing;
Say, fluttering fairy! wert thy hap
To light beneath braw Nanny’s cap,
Wad she, proud butterfly of May!
In pity let you skaithless gae?
The furies glancing frae her een
Wad rug your wings o’ siller sheen,
That, wae for thee! far, far outvy
Her Paris artist’s finest dye;
Then a’ your bonny spraings wad fall,
And you a worm be left to crawl.

To sic mishanter rins the laird
Wha quits his ha’-house and kail-yard,
Grows politician, scours to court,
Whare he’s the laughing-stock and sport
O’ Ministers, wha jeer and jibe,
And heeze his hopes wi’ thought o’ bribe,
Till in the end they flae him bare,
Leave him to poortith, and to care.
Their fleetchin’ words owre late he sees,
He trudges hame, repines, and dies.

Sic be their fa’ wha dirk their ben
In blackest business nae their ain;
And may they scad their lips fu’ leal,
That dip their spoons in ither’s kail.

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82d

Ardent on the beach at Rossnowlagh
on the last day of summer,
you ran through the shallows
throwing off shoes, and shirt and towel
like the seasons, the city’s years…

—Robin Robertson, “Donegal”
published in SAILING THE FOREST (Picador, 2014)

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/robin-robertson/sailing-the-forest/9781447231554

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #summer #Donegal #ageing

Robin Roberston
Donegal

for Eilidh

Ardent on the beach at Rossnowlagh
on the last day of summer,
you ran through the shallows
throwing off shoes, and shirt and towel
like the seasons, the city’s years,
all caught in my arms
as I ploughed on behind you, guardian still
of dry clothes, of this little heart
not quite thirteen,
breasting the waves
and calling back to me
to join you, swimming in the Atlantic
on the last day of summer.
I saw a man in the shallows
with his hands full of clothes, full of
all the years,
and his daughter going
where he knew he could not follow.

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68d

I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face;

one big thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score
before the act, before the blame,
before the lens pulls through the frame…

—Don Paterson, “Rain”
Published in RAIN (Faber, 2010)

5–6 September is National Cinema Weekend 🎥🎬🍿

https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571251742-rain/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #cinema #film #NationalCinemaWeekend

Don Paterson
Rain

I love all films that start with rain:
rain, braiding a windowpane
or darkening a hung-out dress
or streaming down her upturned face;

one big thundering downpour
right through the empty script and score
before the act, before the blame,
before the lens pulls through the frame

to where the woman sits alone
beside a silent telephone
or the dress lies ruined on the grass
or the girl walks off the overpass,

and all things flow out from that source
along their fatal watercourse.
However bad or overlong
such a film can do no wrong,

so when his native twang shows through
or when the boom dips into view
or when her speech starts to betray
its adaptation from a play,

I think to when we opened cold
on a starlit gutter, running gold
with the neon of a drugstore sign
and I’d read into its blazing line:

forget the ink, the milk, the blood –
all was washed clean with the flood
we rose up from the falling waters
the fallen rain’s own sons and daughters

and none of this, none of this matters.

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68d

NAMING THE SNAKES: New Writing Scotland 44
Glasgow launch
8 September, Waterstones Sauchiehall St, Glasgow – £5 / £12 with book

Celebrate the latest issue with a mix of readings of poetry, short fiction & non-fiction in English, Gaelic & Scots – all welcome!

https://www.waterstones.com/events/new-writing-scotland-44-launch/glasgow-sauchiehall-street

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Scots #Scotslanguage #poetry #shortfiction #writingcommunity #Glasgow

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