The Man He Killed
by Thomas Hardy
Books by Thomas Hardy at PG:
literature
It is a land of wee
hard men and all I
am wanted for is to
stand and cheer…
Prof Alan Riach considers the life & work of the poet & playwright Joan Ure (1918–1978) – born #OTD, 22 June
1/6
#Scottish #literature #poetry #poet #drama #playwright #20thcentury #womenwriters
Dear Deirdre: The Japanese American Agony Aunt
Using the nom de plume Deirdre, California-born writer Mary “Mollie” Oyama Mittwer offered advice on changing gender roles and cross-ethnic relationships.
https://daily.jstor.org/dear-deirdre-the-japanese-american-agony-aunt/
Japanese literature at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subjects/search/?query=Japanese+literature
Is This the Best of All Possible Worlds? Leibniz vs. Voltaire
What does it mean for this world to be the “best possible world,” even with the obvious existence of evil? Leibniz and Voltaire weigh in.
https://www.thecollector.com/is-this-best-all-possible-worlds-leibniz-voltaire/
Voltaire and Leibniz at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/913
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/7168
#OTD, 24 June, in 1314, the Scottish army under King Robert I destroyed a much larger English invasion force at Bannockburn, in one of the most decisive battles in medieval history. In 1793 Robert Burns composed “Scots Wha Hae”, originally entitled “Robert Bruce’s March To Bannockburn”
⚔️🧵
1/5
#Scottish #literature #Bannockburn #BattleofBannockburn #14thcentury #medieval #history #18thcentury #RobertBurns
Why Jane Austen is definitely not just for girls
Razor-sharp satires of social and gendered inequalities, Austen’s novels are full of witty observations and universally relatable experiences.
By Shelley Galpin
Jane Austen at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/68
#CallForPapers for #OnlineConference: Thinking of the Children: #BookBans, #Censorship, and #Literature for Young People
For this online conference, organizers invite contributions from #scholars at all career stages, from #librarians and #archivists, and from #teachers at all levels, to consider #BookBanning and censorship of literature for young people, past and present.
#YALit #YA #Resist #CFP #Books
Edited 226d ago
I hate midsummer in the north.
There’s no night to speak of,
just day in and day in
with maybe a slight hesitancy
about two o’clock in the morning…
—Alasdair Maclean, “I Hate Midsummer in the North”
published in From the Wilderness (Gollancz, 1973)
Here lies our land: every airt
Beneath swift clouds, glad glints of sun,
Belonging to none but itself…
—Kathleen Jamie, “Here lies our land”
This poem was commissioned in 2014 to mark the 700th anniversary of the battle of Bannockburn – fought #OTD, 24 June, 1314. The poem is inscribed on the Bannockburn monument.
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/here-lies-our-land/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Bannockburn #BattleofBannockburn
The Literary Encyclopedia, an author-owned not-for-profit publication, is seeking new editors for its Scottish literature section. Section editors, who must hold a PhD, commission & edit entries (~2000–2500 words) in their fields of expertise.
@litstudies
Today, 16 July, is #WorldSnakeDay – so here is “Siesta of a Hungarian Snake”, by Edwin Morgan 🐍
Published in New Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2012)
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #concretepoetry #snake #snakes #EdwinMorgan
Literary translation as a linguistic survival strategy | John Corbett
Technology can threaten minority languages such as Scots & Nuosu. Prof Corbett argues that literary translation can, among other things, support minority languages & sustain traditional cultures.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF7nS6_C_KE
#Scottish #literature #translation #Scots #Scotslanguage #minoritylanguages
The grey roots circle thee, who never knew
At any hour within thy travels lone
A human shape but mine…
—Olive Fraser, “The Adder of Quinag”
First published in The Pure Account (Aberdeen University Press, 1981), & included in The Wrong Music (@canongatebooks 1989)
A poem for #WorldSnakeDay 🐍
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/adder-quinag/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #naturewriting #Scotland #highlands #snake #snakes
What Submersibles Reveal About the Violent Underbelly of the Human Psyche
Matthew Gavin Frank Explores the Dark Side of Our Desire to Explore the Ocean’s Depths
https://lithub.com/what-submersibles-reveal-about-the-violent-underbelly-of-the-human-psyche/
Submarines at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/subject/114
Der a ön o haet ida gairden here,
Whaar da sun-flooer proodly staands,
An dark-red roses trowe da green
Laek da lowe fae fiery braands…
—T.A. Robertson (“Vagaland”), “Haem Tochts”
published in The Collected Poems of Vagaland (Shetland Times, 1975)
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/haem-tochts/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Shetland #Shetlandic
Is there a whim-inspired fool,
Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule,
Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool,
Let him draw near…
Robert Burns (1759–96) died #OTD, 21 July, aged 37. “A Bard’s Epitaph” is the final poem in the 1786 Kilmarnock Edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect
1/4
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #RobertBurns #18thcentury #romanticism #epitaph
College students digitized 795 poems from the world’s oldest novel
‘The Tale of Genji’ is a cornerstone of classical Japanese literature.
By Andrew Paul
https://www.popsci.com/technology/genji-poems-online/
The tale of Genji at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/66057
Who called Shakespeare ‘upstart crow’? Our study points to his co-author, Thomas Nashe
By Brett Greatley-Hirsch, Andrew Hadfield and Andrew Hadfield
Shakespeare at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65
Decoding the Iconic Cover of ‘The Great Gatsby’
What does Spanish artist Francis Cugat's 'Celestial Eyes' tell us about the American classic?
By Katie White
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/decoding-the-iconic-cover-of-the-great-gatsby-2672761
The Great Gatsby at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/64317
just to see how you’re
faring up there
with little company
just the odd bat or hare
that careers around
‘turning the world’
so you tell me…
—Kathleen Jamie, “Considering a Hike to Yon Tree”
in the London Review of Books, 24 July 2025
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n13/kathleen-jamie/considering-a-hike-to-yon-tree
[To Sheila Lanyon, on the Flyleaf of a Book]
W. S. Graham
Inscribed by the author on the flyleaf of a copy of THE WHITE THRESHOLD belonging to Sheila Lanyon, widow of the late painter Peter Lanyon. The poem is dated June 18, 1966 and the “second summer” referred to is the second since Peter’s death, after a gliding accident, on August 31, 1964.
![[To Sheila Lanyon, on the Flyleaf of a Book]
by W. S. Graham
Sheila, we speak here on the fly
Leaf of a book which was myself
A good few graves ago.
Now I am maintained by other
Words for better or for worse
To whisper my hello.
The seasons turn. Threshold on thresh
Hold forms continually and falls
Under grief’s lonely hammer.
What did you say? I thought between
These fly leaf words I heard you speak
Out of your Second Summer.
The summer chimes and turns its blue
Dragon-flying eyes to see
We two are not afraid.
Hello, Sheila, I can hear
Your breath on the other side of the word
And see you turn your head.](/proxy/post_attachment/772057/ca5f5c2a8d.jpg "[To Sheila Lanyon, on the Flyleaf of a Book]
by W. S. Graham
Sheila, we speak here on the fly
Leaf of a book which was myself
A good few graves ago.
Now I am maintained by other
Words for better or for worse
To whisper my hello.
The seasons turn. Threshold on thresh
Hold forms continually and falls
Under grief’s lonely hammer.
What did you say? I thought between
These fly leaf words I heard you speak
Out of your Second Summer.
The summer chimes and turns its blue
Dragon-flying eyes to see
We two are not afraid.
Hello, Sheila, I can hear
Your breath on the other side of the word
And see you turn your head.")
Michael Pedersen on Muckle Flugga: Isolation, Grief & Lighthouses
Following the release of his debut novel MUCKLE FLUGGA, Michael Pedersen speaks to SNACK magazine about turning lighthouses into legends, the ghost of Robert Louis Stevenson, and why this might be his most welcoming work yet.
A Kick Up the Arts podcast
Nicola Meighan discusses SMALL TOWN JOY: from Glam Rock to Hyperpop: How Queer Music Changed the Sound of Scotland with musician & writer Carrie Marshall, & is joined by musician & composer Laura Jane Wilkie, whose album VENT is centred around waulking songs – women’s work songs from the Highlands and Islands.
https://www.akickupthearts.org/blog-3-1/carrie-marshall-amp-laura-jane-wilkie
#Scottish #literature #music #popmusic #queer #queermusic #Highland #worksongs #podcast
Laid-back in orbit, they found their minds.
They found their minds were very clean and clear.
Clear crystals in swarms outside were their fireflies and larks.
Larks they were in lift-off, swallows in soaring…
—Edwin Morgan, “A Home in Space”
from CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)
#OTD, 20 July, 1969, Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/
#Scottish #literature #MoonLanding #MoonLandingDay #poem #poetry #astronauts #scifi #scifipoem #scifipoetry
When all this is over I mean
to travel north, by the high
drove roads and cart tracks
probably in June,
with the gentle dog-roses
flourishing beside me…
—Kathleen Jamie, “Lochan”
published in SELECTED POEMS (Picador, 2018)
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/selected-poems/9781509882953
