poetry
Today, 30 September, is International Translation Day – read THE BOTTLE IMP: Scottish literature & translation issue free online:
🇩🇪 SUNSET SONG in the GDR
🇮🇹 THE BLACK ARROW on Italian TV
🏆 Scotland’s Nobel-nominated Esperanto poet
🇫🇷 Franco-Scots poetry & postcolonialism
🏗️ Transcreating concrete poetry
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2019/12/bad-harsk-speech-and-lewit-barbar-tung/
#Scottish #literature #InternationalTranslationDay #translation #SunsetSong #GDR #Italian #Esperanto #French #postcolonial #poetry #concretepoetry
“The use of Scots, apart from the relative ease of working up the right atmosphere, also helps (though dangerously) because of the verbal freedom it confers on a harassed translator”
—Edwin Morgan on translating Mayakovsky into Scots
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https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/edwin-morgan-in-touch-with-language/
#Scottish #literature #poetry #translation #InternationalTranslationDay #Scots #Scotslanguage #Russian #EdwinMorgan #Mayakovsky
My father passed with his penny letters
Through closes opening and shutting like legends
When barbarous with gulls
Hamnavoe’s morning broke…
—“Hamnavoe”, by George Mackay Brown (1921–1996) – born #OTD, 17 Oct
“I have never seen his poetry sufficiently praised.”
—Seamus Heaney
A 🎂 🧵
You can listen to George Mackay Brown read his poem “Hamnavoe” online via the Poetry Archive
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English essayist, poet, playwright Joseph Addison was born #OTD in 1672.
In 1711, he co-founded "The Spectator" with Steele. Unlike their earlier venture, "The Tatler," which Steele had begun in 1709, "The Spectator" was more focused and systematic. His plays, such as "Cato, a Tragedy" (1713), also left a mark on English literature, influencing figures such as Voltaire and George Washington.
Books by Joseph Addison at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1024
“I remember being excited by its ingenious allegory, allusions to nuclear holocaust behind something timeless, almost heraldic. I was drawn, surely, to the unusual combination of spiritual reach and humour, as well as recognising the poet’s extraordinary gift for characterisation in miniature.”
—John Greening on discovering George Mackay Brown
For want o luve we live on hate,
For want o Heven praise the State,
For want o richts we worship rules,
For want o gods the glibbest fules…
—Sydney Goodsir Smith, “Prolegomenon: The Deevil’s Waltz”
published in A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS: an anthology of Scots poetry
from the first & second waves
of the Scottish Renaissance (ASL, 2017)
Happy #Scotstober!
https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #Scotstober #richts
Concrete Scottish Connections: Finlay, Jandl, Gomringer, & Satie
22 Oct, Edinburgh – free
Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ernst Jandl, & Eugen Gomringer – all born in 1925 – helped shape concrete poetry, breaking linguistic barriers & reimagining the power of words
Robert Fergusson (1750–1774) died #OTD, 17 Oct, aged just 24. Notable for his poetry in both Scots & English, his works include “Auld Reikie”, “The Daft Days”, & “Hallow Fair”. His legacies are broad, from the literary & cultural to the medical.
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https://robert-fergusson.glasgow.ac.uk
#Scottish #literature #poetry #18thcentury #RobertFergusson #Scots #Scotslanguage
English novelist and poet Charlotte Smith was born #OTD in 1749.
Smith's first significant literary success came with the publication of "Elegiac Sonnets" in 1784. In addition to her poetry, Smith wrote several novels: her first novel, "Emmeline, or The Orphan of the Castle" (1788), was followed by others such as "Ethelinde" (1789), "The Old Manor House" (1793), and "Desmond" (1792).
Books by Charlotte Smith at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/41281
Today, 2 October, is National Poetry Day in the UK. The theme is “play”.
“Necessity is not the mother of invention; play is”
—Ian D. Suttie
It gets late early out here
in the lacklustre places,
wind in the trees and the foodstalls’
ricepaper lamplight, fading and blurred with rain…
—John Burnside, “Travelling South, Scotland, August 2012”
published in BLACK MIDDENS: New Writing Scotland 31 (ASL, 2013)
https://poetrysociety.org.uk/projects/national-poetry-day/2025-play/
#Scottish #literature #nationalpoetryday #play #poem #poetry
Tha i mar bharaille de sgadan saillte:
chan eil agad ach do chròg
a stobadh ann, agus dòrlach a thoirt a-mach,
reamhar is tiugh leis a’ bhuntàta…
—Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul, “Bàrdachd”
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/bardachd/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Gaelic #Gaidhlig #NationalPoetryDay
Something near to true
night-darkness. The children
are playing the Plinky-Boat –
a xylophone made
from a reclaimed yoal –
built for flexibility in a coarse
sea…
—Jen Hadfield, “The Plinky-Boat”
published in BYSSUS (Picador, 2014)
https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/jen-hadfield/byssus/9781447241102
#Scottish #literature #Shetland #NationalPoetryDay #poem #poetry #play
English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright John Dryden died #OTD in 1700.
Dryden was one of the most influential literary figures of his time and is often referred to as the "Father of English Criticism." As a poet, Dryden's works ranged from satires and political verse to heroic couplets and translations. He was also a prolific playwright, producing numerous comedies, tragedies, and heroic dramas.
Books by John Dryden at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/807
Wanting to go,
all the leaves want to go
though they have achieved
their kingly robes.
Weary of colours,
they think of black earth,
they think of
white snow…
—Norman MacCaig, “Autumn”
published in The Poems of Norman MacCaig (Birlinn, 2009)
https://birlinn.co.uk/2022/10/21/poem-of-the-week-autumn-by-norman-maccaig/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #NormanMacCaig #autumn
Autumn, and the nights are darkening.
The old lady tells us of her past once more.
She muses on the days she spent nursing
at ten shillings a month…
—Iain Crichton Smith, “The Old Lady”
published in NEW COLLECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2011)
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781857549607/new-collected-poems/
“A man’s a man for a’ that” – how does he know?
Traipsing with his plough, the rural hero,
Swaggering down the lea-rigs, talking to mice…
—“James Macfarlan”, by Edwin Morgan
published in VIRTUAL & OTHER REALITIES (Carcanet, 1997)
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781857543476/virtual-and-other-realities/
Teacher, scholar,
he had worked a true task when all alive…
—Iain Crichton Smith, “For Angus MacLeod”
Published in New Collected Poems (Carcanet, 2011)
Today, 5 October, is World Teachers Day. In this poem Iain Crichton Smith, himself a teacher, celebrates the life of a former Headmaster of Oban High School
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https://www.unesco.org/en/days/teachers
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #WorldTeachersDay #teaching #teachers #education #school #schools
Love is all you need: Remembering The Kingis Quair
Alan Riach discusses The Kingis Quair – a poem attributed to King James I of Scots (1394–1437), & described by C.S. Lewis as “the first modern book of love”
https://www.thenational.scot/news/17372009.love-is-all-you-need-remembering-the-kings-quair/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #lovepoetry #medieval #Scots #Scotslanguage #15thcentury #Scotstober
Well Versed Author Event: Imtiaz Dharker
15 Oct, online – free
A poetry reading & audience Q&A with Imtiaz Dharker, part of Open Book’s Well Versed series in partnership with StAnza International Poetry Festival
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/well-versed-author-event-imtiaz-dharker-tickets-1729406705009
BANNED BOOKS WEEK
5–11 October 2025
Tom Leonard’s 1984 poetry collection INTIMATE VOICES was banned in Scotland’s Central Region school libraries. The Education Committee said
“There are some harmful words in it … Sometimes the naked truth has to be clothed”
But Leonard had anticipated this sort of reaction…
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#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard
English writer of children's stories Juliana Horatia Ewing died #OTD in 1885.
Ewing's writing career began in the late 1860s, and she quickly gained recognition for her charming and insightful stories that often featured children and their adventures. Some of Ewing's most popular works include "Mrs. Overtheway's Remembrances" (1869), "Six to Sixteen: A Story for Girls" (1875), and "Jackanapes" (1884).
Books by Juliana Horatia Ewing at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1803
Noo Maunsie’s wis as guid a tongue
As ever psalm o’ Dauvid sung.
It fittit weel a godly mooth,
And said few wirds ’at wirna truth,
An’ never swöre by Guid or Deil
Excep’ whan kyunnens ate his kail…
—from “Auld Maunsie’s Crü” by B.R. Anderson (1861–1888), in Broken Lights: Poems & Reminiscences of the Late Basil Ramsay Anderson (1888) – republished in 2021 by Northus Shetland Classics
#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #Shetland #Scotstober #poem #poetry
Finally!
We've completed our little Haikuart-Series "Hedgehog in the four seasons"!
Haiku: @MarjoleinRotsteeg
Watercolor paintings: @KarenKasparArt
All proceeds from the sale of prints and products of this hedgehog haiku artwork will be donated to the Avolare Wildlife Hospital in the Netherlands (avolare.nl).
More infos in comments 👇
#art #haiku #haikuart #poem #poetry #writing #hedgehog #animals #cute #autumn #gifts #giftideas #christmas #support #watercolor #painting #artwork #seasons