literature

321d

<p>I love all films that start with rain:<br>rain, braiding a windowpane<br>or darkening a hung-out dress<br>or streaming down her upturned face…</p><p>—Don Paterson, “Rain”<br>Published in RAIN (Faber, 2010)</p><p><a href="https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/rain-2/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/rain-2/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.</span><span class="invisible">uk/poem/rain-2/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/rain/" rel="tag">#rain</a> <a href="/tags/film/" rel="tag">#film</a> <a href="/tags/cinema/" rel="tag">#cinema</a></p>

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.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

309d

<p>THE Q&A: AMBROSE PARRY</p><p>Married pair Marisa Haetzman & Christopher Brookmyre write historical crime fiction as “Ambrose Parry”. In The List’s Q&A they muse on the benefits of apple corers, being a gay panda, & putting your hands in the air like you just don’t care</p><p><a href="https://list.co.uk/news/the-qa-ambrose-parry-46686" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="list.co.uk/news/the-qa-ambrose-parry-46686"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">list.co.uk/news/the-qa-ambrose</span><span class="invisible">-parry-46686</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/crimefiction/" rel="tag">#crimefiction</a> <a href="/tags/historicalfiction/" rel="tag">#historicalfiction</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

321d

<p>Lesya Ukrainka: Ukraine’s Beloved Writer and Activist</p><p>“Lesya Ukrainka” was a carefully considered pseudonym for a writer who left behind a legacy of poems, plays, essays and activism for the Ukrainian language.</p><p>By: Emily Zarevich from the archives</p><p><a href="https://daily.jstor.org/lesya-ukrainka-ukraines-beloved-writer-and-activist/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="daily.jstor.org/lesya-ukrainka-ukraines-beloved-writer-and-activist/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">daily.jstor.org/lesya-ukrainka</span><span class="invisible">-ukraines-beloved-writer-and-activist/</span></a></p><p>Ukraine at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=ukraine" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=ukraine"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc</span><span class="invisible">h/?query=ukraine</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Lesya Ukrainka, 1896.

Photo taken at the studio of photographer Heinrich Lazowski in Kyiv.

Taken in the Kyiv studio of photographer Heinrich Lazowski, this portrait shows Ukrainian poet and playwright Lesya Ukrainka at age 25. She sits in a composed and dignified posture, wearing a high-collared, embroidered blouse and a dark shawl. Her gaze is direct and introspective.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%9B%D0%B5%D1%81%D1%8F_%D0%A3%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%97%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0.2.jpg

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

309d

<p>Val McDermid – A Kick Up the Arts Live Podcast Recording<br>9 July, Portobello Bookshop, Edinburgh. Online & in person, tickets £0–£8.99</p><p>Join Val McDermid and Nicola Meighan for a special live recording of the Scottish Arts & Culture Podcast, A Kick Up the Arts, to celebrate the paperback publication of Val’s latest book, QUEEN MACBETH.</p><p><a href="https://www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/val-mcdermid-with-nicola-meighan-queen-macbeth" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.theportobellobookshop.com/events/val-mcdermid-with-nicola-meighan-queen-macbeth"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.theportobellobookshop.com/</span><span class="invisible">events/val-mcdermid-with-nicola-meighan-queen-macbeth</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/podcast/" rel="tag">#podcast</a> <a href="/tags/edinburgh/" rel="tag">#Edinburgh</a> <a href="/tags/valmcdermid/" rel="tag">#ValMcDermid</a> <a href="/tags/historicalfiction/" rel="tag">#historicalfiction</a></p>

Edited 309d ago

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

321d

<p>“I don’t write about people that are nice people. They’ve got to be sinners, with a wee touch of goodness here and there, you know.”</p><p>Giving “people like that” a voice: a conversation with Agnes Owens (1926–2014) – born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 24 May<br>A 🎂 🧵</p><p>1/4</p><p><a href="https://journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/89?lang=en" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="journals.openedition.org/etudesecossaises/89?lang=en"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">journals.openedition.org/etude</span><span class="invisible">secossaises/89?lang=en</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/20thcentury/" rel="tag">#20thcentury</a> <a href="/tags/womenwriters/" rel="tag">#womenwriters</a> <a href="/tags/workingclass/" rel="tag">#WorkingClass</a></p>

Alt text

Book cover People Like That Agnes Owens Cover illustration shows ten drawings by Alasdair Gray of ten various people, young and old, who could be seen around the west of Scotland in the 1980s

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

305d

<p>The International Council on Archives / Conseil international des archives was founded <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 9 June, 1948, under the auspices of UNESCO.</p><p>To celebrate, here’s Edwin Morgan’s poem “Archives”, published in Centenary Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2020)</p><p><a href="https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781784109967" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781784109967"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/ind</span><span class="invisible">exer?product=9781784109967</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/archives/" rel="tag">#archives</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/internationalarchivesday/" rel="tag">#InternationalArchivesDay</a> <a href="/tags/unesco/" rel="tag">#UNESCO</a> <a href="/tags/edwinmorgan/" rel="tag">#EdwinMorgan</a></p>

Archives
by Edwin Morgan

generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
generation upon
g neration up n
g nerat on up n
g nerat n up n
g nerat n p n
g erat n p n
g era n p n
g era n n
g er n n
g r n n
g n n
g n
g

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

305d

<p>Well Versed Author Event: Peter Mackay</p><p>18 June, free online</p><p>Open Book welcomes Scotland’s Makar Peter Mackay to share some poems, have a chat, & give attendees a chance to ask questions. Part of Open Book’s Well Versed series in partnership with StAnza International Poetry Festival.</p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/well-versed-author-events-peter-mackay-tickets-1383659144749" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/well-versed-author-events-peter-mackay-tickets-1383659144749"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/well-ve</span><span class="invisible">rsed-author-events-peter-mackay-tickets-1383659144749</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

319d

<p>Circe in The Odyssey: The Enchantress Who Defied a Hero</p><p>A goddess, a witch, a sorceress—Circe in The Odyssey has been called many things.</p><p>By Mandy Nachampassack-Maloney</p><p><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/circe-the-odyssey-enchantress/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.thecollector.com/circe-the-odyssey-enchantress/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.thecollector.com/circe-the</span><span class="invisible">-odyssey-enchantress/</span></a></p><p>The Odyssey at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1727</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/mythology/" rel="tag">#mythology</a></p>

Circe Offering the Cup to Odysseus by John William Waterhouse.

The painting depicts the enchantress Circe, seated regally on a golden throne, clad in a flowing, deep-blue gown. She holds a golden cup aloft in her right hand, offering it to Odysseus, whom she has attempted to seduce and enchant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circe#/media/File:Circe_Offering_the_Cup_to_Odysseus.jpg

3 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

305d

<p>‘Do you know what we should do<br>what turns over in my mind?<br>Begin to sing old songs!<br>Lend voice to our runes.’</p><p>Reading the Kalevala</p><p>By Lyonel Perabo </p><p><a href="https://wildhunt.org/2025/06/reading-the-kalevala.html" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="wildhunt.org/2025/06/reading-the-kalevala.html"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">wildhunt.org/2025/06/reading-t</span><span class="invisible">he-kalevala.html</span></a></p><p>Kalevala at PG:<br><a href="https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/5186" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>gutenberg.org/ebooks/5186</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a></p>

Inside front title page of The "Old" Kalevala, Finnish national epos, collection of old Finnish poems, by Elias Lönnrot. First edition; volume 1, 1835.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalevala#/media/File:Kalevala1.jpg

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

319d

<p>From the Scottish Poetry Library archives: poet & novelist John Burnside discusses fellow Scottish poet W.S. Graham. During the talk, recorded at the National Library of Scotland, Burnside talks about poetry & visual art, the poet as nomad, & “feeding the dead”</p><p><a href="https://splpodcast.podbean.com/e/john-burnside-on-ws-graham" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="splpodcast.podbean.com/e/john-burnside-on-ws-graham"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">splpodcast.podbean.com/e/john-</span><span class="invisible">burnside-on-ws-graham</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/visualart/" rel="tag">#visualart</a> <a href="/tags/poets/" rel="tag">#poets</a> <a href="/tags/johnburnside/" rel="tag">#JohnBurnside</a> <a href="/tags/wsgraham/" rel="tag">#WSGraham</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

306d

<p>as we find a way to wipe your armpit<br>without lifting your arm up and away</p><p>you say, you’ve never seen me so (I forget<br>the word you use and replace it with close</p><p>as in, we’ve never been so close) and I say<br>I was thinking that…</p><p>—Kathrine Sowerby, “about your armpit”<br>published in GUTTER 28</p><p>A poem for <a href="/tags/pride/" rel="tag">#Pride</a> 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️</p><p><a href="https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/about-your-armpit/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/about-your-armpit/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.</span><span class="invisible">uk/poem/about-your-armpit/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/pride/" rel="tag">#Pride</a> <a href="/tags/pride2025/" rel="tag">#Pride2025</a> <a href="/tags/lgbtq/" rel="tag">#LGBTQ</a></p>

about your armpit
Kathrine Sowerby

as we find a way to wipe your armpit
without lifting your arm up and away

you say, you’ve never seen me so (I forget
the word you use and replace it with close

as in, we’ve never been so close) and I say
I was thinking that—it’s because, you say

I didn’t want you near what wasn’t my body
(I’m putting it into words before I forget)

there isn’t much space between the stiff
compression vest and your arm but I ease

the cloth in and two days later I’m thinking
of the word honour, as in what an honour

which is not a word I often use and I wonder
what you would say, if you knew I was writing

about your armpit

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

319d

<p>On a quiet riverbank a boy meets a stranger going through a rough patch, as the two keep tabs on a controversial rewilding project</p><p>Currently on BBC Sounds: “The Give & Take”, by Linda Cracknell </p><p><a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002bv3p" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002bv3p"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002b</span><span class="invisible">v3p</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/drama/" rel="tag">#drama</a> <a href="/tags/radiodrama/" rel="tag">#radiodrama</a> <a href="/tags/rewilding/" rel="tag">#rewilding</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

319d

<p>Mrs Bram Stoker’s recipe for “Dracula Salad” – published in CRUDEN RECIPES & WRINKLES (Cruden Parish Church, 1912), & contributed shortly after Bram Stoker’s death – via Mike Shepherd on Facebook </p><p><a href="/tags/draculaday/" rel="tag">#DraculaDay</a> 🧛‍♂️ </p><p><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/scotlit/posts/10161485849160090/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.facebook.com/groups/scotlit/posts/10161485849160090/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.facebook.com/groups/scotli</span><span class="invisible">t/posts/10161485849160090/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/bramstoker/" rel="tag">#BramStoker</a> <a href="/tags/dracula/" rel="tag">#Dracula</a> <a href="/tags/recipes/" rel="tag">#recipes</a> <a href="/tags/salad/" rel="tag">#Salad</a></p>

Part of a page from Cruden Recipes and Wrinkles (1912). The paper is old and slightly spotted with age.

Salads, Sauces, &c.

SALAD.
(Mrs PIRIE, Bank House, Lonmay).
Wash and pick two heads of lettuce. Shred them, and add the white of a hard boiled egg cut in rings. Pound the yolk. Add a little salt, a large teaspoonful of made mustard, one breakfastcupful of cream, and a little vinegar. Mix well. Pour over the lettuce, and turn over the whole a few times with a spoon and fork. If liked a few slices of tomato may be added.

THE "DRACULA" SALAD.
(Mrs BRAM STOKER, 26 St George's Square, London, S.W.)
Arrange alternate slices of ripe tomatoes, and ripe, purple, egg-shaped plums in dish, and dress with oil and vinegar French dressing.

BREAD SAUCE.
(Mrs J. SMITH, Easterton, Peterhead).
1/2 pint milk.
2 cloves.
1 small onion.
2 oz. bread crumbs.
Pepper and salt.
1 oz. butter.

Stick the cloves in the onion. Put the milk in a saucepan. Add the onion, and set at the side of stove for half an hour. Warm it, but do not boil. Shake out the onion and add the crumbs, butter, salt, and a good pinch of pepper. Stir until the bread crumbs have absorbed the milk.

2 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

318d

<p>‘A steamy wrestle’: Guardian article inspires play on Shakespeare and Marlowe collaboration</p><p>Exclusive: Born With Teeth by Liz Duffy Adams, coming to West End, imagines rival dramatists working together</p><p>By Dalya Alberge</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/may/26/guardian-article-inspires-rsc-play-shakespeare-marlowe" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/may/26/guardian-article-inspires-rsc-play-shakespeare-marlowe"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.theguardian.com/culture/20</span><span class="invisible">25/may/26/guardian-article-inspires-rsc-play-shakespeare-marlowe</span></a></p><p>Shakespeare and Marlowe at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/65</span></a><br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/410" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/410"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/410</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/literarycriticism/" rel="tag">#literarycriticism</a></p>

William Shakespeare by John Taylor.

Shakespeare is depicted with a high forehead, dark eyes, and a trimmed moustache and goatee. His dark, curled hair is shoulder-length, and he wears a black doublet with a soft white collar and a gold earring in his left ear—a detail that adds a touch of artistic flair and Elizabethan style.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare#/media/File:William_Shakespeare_by_John_Taylor,_edited.jpg

Anonymous portrait, possibly of Marlowe, at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

It depicts a young man, thought by some scholars to be Marlowe, at the age of 21, wearing a richly patterned black doublet embroidered with gold thread in a swirling vine motif—typical of late 16th-century fashion.

The subject has dark, curled hair, a fine complexion, and a direct, confident gaze.

Above the figure, a Latin inscription reads: "Quod me nutrit me destruit" (“That which nourishes me destroys me”)—a phrase associated with dangerous intellect and intense passion, further fueling speculation that the portrait may represent Marlowe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlowe#/media/File:Christopher_Marlowe.jpg

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

318d

<p>Robert Burns & Black Lives</p><p>24 June, Alloway. Free – booking recommended</p><p>Clark McGinn examines Burns’s connections to the transatlantic slave trade, highlighting the paradoxes & moral conflicts during the poet’s time. He does not shy away from uncomfortable truths, presenting a nuanced portrait that challenges readers to reconcile Burns’s literary genius with the ethical ambiguities of his time.</p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/highlight-talk-clark-mcginn-on-burns-and-black-lives-tickets-1354716606839" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/highlight-talk-clark-mcginn-on-burns-and-black-lives-tickets-1354716606839"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/highlig</span><span class="invisible">ht-talk-clark-mcginn-on-burns-and-black-lives-tickets-1354716606839</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/robertburns/" rel="tag">#RobertBurns</a> <a href="/tags/transatlanticslavetrade/" rel="tag">#TransatlanticSlaveTrade</a> <a href="/tags/18thcentury/" rel="tag">#18thcentury</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

318d

<p>Behind the Scenes Tour at the Mitchell Library<br>14 June, Mitchell Library, Glasgow. Free, ticketed</p><p>An exclusive guided tour of the Mitchell Library – one of Europe’s largest public libraries. Dawn Vallance, Principal Librarian at the Mitchell Library, will lead a tour of the vast back stacks of the Mitchell, not usually accessible to the public.</p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/behind-the-scenes-tour-at-the-mitchell-library-tickets-1374282378589" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/behind-the-scenes-tour-at-the-mitchell-library-tickets-1374282378589"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/behind-</span><span class="invisible">the-scenes-tour-at-the-mitchell-library-tickets-1374282378589</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/libraries/" rel="tag">#libraries</a> <a href="/tags/architecture/" rel="tag">#architecture</a> <a href="/tags/history/" rel="tag">#history</a> <a href="/tags/glasgow/" rel="tag">#Glasgow</a> <a href="/tags/mitchelllibrary/" rel="tag">#MitchellLibrary</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

306d

<p>This week; the sermon is salt<br>and the taste of it as song. A clean, cold burn</p><p>quickens the blood…</p><p>—A.M. Havinden, “Sea Chapel”<br>published in Break in Case of Silence: New Writing Scotland 39 (ASL, 2021)</p><p><a href="https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws39/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws39/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">asls.org.uk/publications/books</span><span class="invisible">/newwriting/nws39/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a></p>

A. M. Havinden
Sea Chapel

This week; the sermon is salt
and the taste of it as song. A clean, cold burn

quickens the blood. Unseen, underfoot,
deep notes of wrack and weed wind

ankles. We raise our voices
in bright blasphemy, in shock and defiance

a hymn of human-scale endurance,
how great and small we are;

how outrageously alone; how far
we’ve come, suddenly, from shore.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

305d

<p>Why H.G. Wells’ “The Time Machine” Is a Timely Warning to the World</p><p>Wells turned the future around in his novel.</p><p><a href="https://www.thecollector.com/hg-wells-time-machine-eternal-timeliness/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.thecollector.com/hg-wells-time-machine-eternal-timeliness/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.thecollector.com/hg-wells-</span><span class="invisible">time-machine-eternal-timeliness/</span></a></p><p>Books by H. G. Wells at PG</p><p><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=h.+g.+wells" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=h.+g.+wells"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc</span><span class="invisible">h/?query=h.+g.+wells</span></a></p><p>Looking Backward, 2000 to 1887 by Edward Bellamy at PG</p><p><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/624" rel="nofollow"><span class="invisible">https://</span>www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/624</a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/sciencefiction/" rel="tag">#sciencefiction</a></p>

Cover of The Time Machine by H. G. Wells with a sphinx.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

317d

<p><a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a> The Irish writer and poet Thomas Moore was born in 1779. He was "widely regarded in the late Georgian era as Ireland's "national bard."</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moore" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Moore"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M</span><span class="invisible">oore</span></a></p><p>Thomas Moore at PG</p><p><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2185" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2185"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/autho</span><span class="invisible">r/2185</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/books/" rel="tag">#books</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Painting of Thomas Moore by Thomas Lawrence.

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

295d

<p>Pink sand and sandpipers pink in the setting<br>sun and pink granite and the pink swirl<br>of green waves…</p><p>—“Camas Tuath”, by poet, playwright & novelist Tom Buchan (1931–1995) – born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 19 June</p><p><a href="https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/camas-tuath/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/camas-tuath/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.</span><span class="invisible">uk/poem/camas-tuath/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/20thcentury/" rel="tag">#20thcentury</a></p>

Camas Tuath
Tom Buchan

Pink sand and sandpipers pink in the setting
sun and pink granite and the pink swirl
of green waves: no mediterranean relics
here, no ruined amphitheatres, no amphorae,

no half-submerged statuary – only the
children’s wet sand-pies and a standing
stone, a druidic lingam standing for nothing
anyone knows about nowadays, a stony

finger, green with years, specific of an idea
which was no doubt straight, strong and complex
once, but is now obliterated by the hysterical
cries of children and the birds’ pink squealing.

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

317d

<p>Into perplexity: as an itch chased round<br>an oxter or early man in the cave mouth<br>watching rain-drifts pour from beyond</p><p>his understanding…</p><p>—“The Beautiful”, by Roddy Lumsden (1966–2020) – born <a href="/tags/otd/" rel="tag">#OTD</a>, 28 May. A 🎂 🧵<br>Published in POETRY magazine, Dec 2008</p><p>1/5</p><p><a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/51938/the-beautiful" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/51938/the-beautiful"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.poetryfoundation.org/poetr</span><span class="invisible">ymagazine/poems/51938/the-beautiful</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/poem/" rel="tag">#poem</a> <a href="/tags/poetry/" rel="tag">#poetry</a> <a href="/tags/roddylumsden/" rel="tag">#RoddyLumsden</a></p>

The Beautiful
by Roddy Lumsden

Into perplexity: as an itch chased round
an oxter or early man in the cave mouth
watching rain-drifts pour from beyond

his understanding. Whether to admire
the mere sensation, enough, or hold out
for sweeter ornament, vessels of wonder

born with that ur-charm of symmetry;
lovely ones we ache to prize and praise,
climb into and become because they try

our day-by-day significance: some of us
ugly and most of us plain, walked past
in the drowned streets: pearls of paste,

salted butter, secondary colors. They
drift unapproached, gazed never-selves,
blunt paragons of genetic industry. We

desire them but cannot want such order.
We stand, mouths open, and cannot help
stammering our secrets, nailed to water.

1 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

304d

<p>"Writers are so much braver than any other artist," says Georgia Riordan in our latest newsletter, featuring thoughts from our interns.</p><p>Find out why she thinks so:</p><p><a href="https://newdoorbooks.net/so/7fPTLaOoC?languageTag=en" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="newdoorbooks.net/so/7fPTLaOoC?languageTag=en"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">newdoorbooks.net/so/7fPTLaOoC?</span><span class="invisible">languageTag=en</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/writingcommunity/" rel="tag">#WritingCommunity</a> <a href="/tags/bookswithheart/" rel="tag">#bookswithheart</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#Literature</a></p>

(no description)

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

304d

<p>CFP: Foreclosure<br>a Special Issue of Key Words: A Journal of Cultural Materialism</p><p>Theorising foreclosure in relation to British cultural production since 1960. The editors seek contributions on literary imagination, questions of genre & form, interpretive practices, & material conditions of cultural production</p><p>Deadline 18 July</p><p>@litstudies </p><p><a href="https://raymondwilliams.co.uk/2025/06/09/call-for-contributors-foreclosure-a-special-issue-of-key-words-a-journal-of-cultural-materialism/" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="raymondwilliams.co.uk/2025/06/09/call-for-contributors-foreclosure-a-special-issue-of-key-words-a-journal-of-cultural-materialism/"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">raymondwilliams.co.uk/2025/06/</span><span class="invisible">09/call-for-contributors-foreclosure-a-special-issue-of-key-words-a-journal-of-cultural-materialism/</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/english/" rel="tag">#English</a> <a href="/tags/welsh/" rel="tag">#Welsh</a> <a href="/tags/ulster/" rel="tag">#Ulster</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/literarystudies/" rel="tag">#Literarystudies</a> <a href="/tags/culturalstudies/" rel="tag">#CulturalStudies</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

316d

<p>Aminatta Forna: Creative Conversations X UBelong<br>16 June, free online</p><p>A conversation with Aminatta Forna, award-winning author of the essay collection THE WINDOW SEAT: Notes from a Life in Motion, & more.</p><p>This event is part of the Building Solidarity & Kinship programme curated by Esraa Husain at the Refugee Festival Scotland 2025, developed in partnership with Creative Conversations and U Belong Glasgow.</p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aminatta-forna-creative-conversations-x-ubelong-tickets-1387176776079" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aminatta-forna-creative-conversations-x-ubelong-tickets-1387176776079"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/aminatt</span><span class="invisible">a-forna-creative-conversations-x-ubelong-tickets-1387176776079</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/scottish/" rel="tag">#Scottish</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a> <a href="/tags/solidarity/" rel="tag">#solidarity</a> <a href="/tags/kinship/" rel="tag">#kinship</a> <a href="/tags/war/" rel="tag">#war</a> <a href="/tags/trauma/" rel="tag">#trauma</a></p>

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

304d

<p>‘Who controls the present controls the past’: What Orwell’s ‘1984’ explains about the twisting of history to control the public</p><p>by Laura Beers</p><p><a href="https://theconversation.com/who-controls-the-present-controls-the-past-what-orwells-1984-explains-about-the-twisting-of-history-to-control-the-public-257798" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="theconversation.com/who-controls-the-present-controls-the-past-what-orwells-1984-explains-about-the-twisting-of-history-to-control-the-public-257798"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">theconversation.com/who-contro</span><span class="invisible">ls-the-present-controls-the-past-what-orwells-1984-explains-about-the-twisting-of-history-to-control-the-public-257798</span></a></p><p>Dystopias at PG:<br><a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/3316" rel="nofollow" class="ellipsis" title="www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/3316"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subje</span><span class="invisible">ct/3316</span></a></p><p><a href="/tags/book/" rel="tag">#book</a> <a href="/tags/literature/" rel="tag">#literature</a></p>

Picture of George Orwell which appears in an old accreditation for the BNUJ.

Orwell is shown from the shoulders up, facing slightly to his lef. His dark hair is neatly combed back, and he wears a collared shirt, possibly with a tie visible beneath a jacket.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell#/media/File:George_Orwell_press_photo.jpg

0 0 0 View Post & Replies See Original

Previous Page Next Page