“It was one of those days when you felt God had forgotten the city…”
The opening line of a 1930s novel of Depression-era Glasgow: not Blake’s THE SHIPBUILDERS or Barke’s MAJOR OPERATION, but HUNGER MARCH by Dot Allan – born #OTD, 13 May 1886 – which preceded them both.
A 🎂 🧵
1/3
https://asls.org.uk/dot-allan-a-glasgow-woman-novelist/
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #Glasgow #novel
The Agnes Owens Archive – Centenary Talk
24 May, Kelvingrove Art Gallery & Museum, Glasgow – free
On the 100th birthday of Scottish writer Agnes Owens, Kelvingrove are hosting SGSAH-funded PhD researcher, Laura MacDonald, who has been supporting the development of the new Agnes Owens Archive, housed at the Alasdair Gray Archive
https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/event/1/the-agnes-owens-archive-centenary-talk
#Scottish #literature #womenwriters #20thcentury #AgnesOwens #workingclass
Poetry in the Rose Garden
23 May, Scottish Poetry Rose Garden, Queen’s Park, Glasgow. Free.
Join the Friends of Queen’s Park to celebrate the launch of Gillian Dawson’s nature‑based haiku, plus an in‑situ reading of Catherine Eunson’s sonnet corona, The Scottish Poetry Rose Garden.
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/poetry-in-the-rose-garden-tickets-1989016230087
Perspectives on the Gaelic Caribbean: Irish, Scottish & Caribbean Connections
From the 17th to the 19th centuries, Gaelic speakers from Ireland & Scotland were present in the Caribbean in a variety of guises, both as indentured servants & as enslavers. This symposium, from 11 May 2026, examines some of the literary & historical entanglements & connections between Scotland & Ireland with the Caribbean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR6BrKRMFKs
#Scottish #Irish #history #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Gaeilge #Caribbean
Narrative Poems: ‘Tam o’ Shanter’ by Robert Burns & ‘Peter Grimes’ by George Crabbe
In this extract from the LRB Podcast, Seamus Perry, Mark Ford & Andrew O’Hagan discuss the moral & stylistic turns of ‘Tam o’ Shanter’, its influence on Wordsworth & Coleridge, & what it owes to the Augustan perfectionism of Pope. They also examine a much darker example of Romantic narrative poetry: George Crabbe’s ‘Peter Grimes’
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930) was born #OTD, 22 May, at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh – a 🎂 🧵
On BBC Sounds: Bridget Kendall explores Conan Doyle’s life & work – the doctor & literary superstar who changed crime fiction forever
1/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p054419v
#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #Crimewriting #CrimeFiction #Sherlock #SherlockHolmes #SherlockHolmesDay #ArthurConanDoyle
I never felt so much
Since I have felt at all
The tingling smell and touch
Of dogrose and sweet briar,
Nettles against the wall,
All sours and sweets that grow
Together or apart…
—“A Birthday”, by poet, novelist & translator Edwin Muir (1887–1959), born #OTD, 15 May
1/10
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thCentury #EdwinMuir #Orkney
A Kingdom in Perplexity: Voices of 17th-Century Scotland
11 June, University of Glasgow – free
A one-day symposium offering a fresh, supportive, cross-disciplinary research environment for those interested in any aspect of early-modern Scottish studies
“Bide the storm ye canna hinder”
Jenni Calder on Helen Cruickshank (1886–1975): poet, author, founder member of the Saltire Society, Hon Sec of Scottish PEN, & linchpin of the 20th-century Scottish renaissance – born #OTD, 15 May
1/4
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2020/12/helen-cruickshank-bide-the-storm-ye-canna-hinder/
What innocence? Whose guilt? What eyes? Whose breast?
Crumpled orphan, nembutal bed,
white hearse, Los Angeles…
—Edwin Morgan, “The Death of Marilyn Monroe”
published in CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)
The funeral of Marilyn Monroe (1926–1962) took place #OTD, 8 August, 1962
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #MarilynMonroe
Wring the Scottish rain clouds dry;
Take sleet, the driving snow, the hail;
Winter twilight; the summer’s sun slowed down
to pearl-sheen dusk on hillsides, city-roofs,
on lochs at midnight.
And, most of all, take the years that have already run
to dust, the dust we spill behind us…
—Ron Butlin, “A Recipe for Whisky”
published in WITHOUT A BACKWARD GLANCE (Barzan 2005)
Today, 17 May, is World Whisky Day 🥃
Slàinte mhath!
THE CITY IS A MAGIC SCULPTURE OF
THE GROUP MIND THE CITY IS A
MYSTIC DREAM OF FOREST MEMORY\
WALLS ARE THE LAST GASP OF FAILING
IDEOLOGIES…
—Robert Montgomery, billboard poem
https://www.robertmontgomery.org/b6hov0ii4s1uuvhwr33vbfj0ihu8hj
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #art #visualart #billboard
CFP: James Kelman at 80
Spring 2027, University of Glasgow (date tbc)
This international conference will consider the living legacy of Kelman’s writing, & his ongoing significance in the cultural & political worlds of the 21st century. Proposals are invited on Kelman’s fiction & its political significance, focusing on any period or aspect of Kelman’s work.
Submissions deadline: 30 June 2026
@litstudies
https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/05/18/james-kelman-at-80
Secrets and spies in Scottish literature
21 July, Pitlochry Festival Theatre. Tickets £12
Prof Penny Fielding talks about the history of the spy novel in Scotland, and what sets spy fiction apart from detective fiction. Why do fictional spies so often find their way to Scotland? And why are Scottish authors drawn to its landscapes, borderlands and history of espionage?
https://www.pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/whats-on/secrets-and-spies-in-scottish-literature/
#Scottish #literature #thriller #spyfiction #detectivefiction
Agnes Owens: Out of the Margins
Agnes Owens (1926–2014) was born 100 years ago #OTD, 24 May. This short film presents Owens as a writer shaped by working-class life, whose fiction exposed power, resisted sentimentality, & centred overlooked voices.
A 🎂🧵
1/7
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkYRPGGto2Q
#Scottish #literature #womenwriters #20thcentury #AgnesOwens #workingclass #workingclasswriters
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
A shepherd in Kintail, living alone in a bothy, far from other houses, after kindling in the evening a bright cheerful fire, threw himself on a heather bed on the opposite side of the house. About twenty cats entered and sat round the fire, holding up their paws and warming themselves…
—John Gregorson Campbell, 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘧𝘵 & 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 & 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘚𝘤𝘰𝘵𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 (1902) – online via @gutenberg_org
WILOMENA: The Land of Dreams & Nightmares
11 August, Waterstones Sauchiehall St, Glasgow: £3/£5/£12 (with book)
Glasgow’s comic-book duo metaphrog launch their new children’s graphic novel. Wilomena has fallen into the land of dreams & nightmares – and the nightmares are taking over! With the help of a talking cat called Mephisto, can Wilomina find her family & the way home before she turns into a nightmare herself?
https://www.waterstones.com/events/celebrate-the-launch-of-wilomina/glasgow-sauchiehall-street
A Restless Intellect
“Widely respected – & regularly attacked (once physically) – in her lifetime, she is now largely neglected; an intriguing aside to feminism or to agnosticism. Dixie deserves better.”
Florence Dixie (1855–1905) – novelist, poet, dramatist, war correspondent, campaigning journalist, suffragist, & more – was born #OTD, 25 May. Dr Valentina Bold explores Dixie’s roving life
@litstudies
1/2
https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2021/12/a-restless-intellect-florence-dixie-1855-1905/
“The rough-finish Mitre. Half football, half Portuguese Man o’ War. On the verge of a ban in the European Court of Human Rights, this model is not for sale to children. […] Made from highly durable fibre-glass, stuffed with neutron star and coated with dead jellyfish.”
—from “Playground Football” by Christopher Brookmyre
Today, 25 May, is World Football Day ⚽
https://dearscotland.com/2009/08/07/playground-football-by-christopher-brookmyre/
Like all those red-faced boys
in brand-new football strips
dribbling a ball around
in a circle of streetlight
or practicing their footwork
in the park
in Cowdenbeath, Arbroath,
Kirkcudbright, Govan,
I wanted the triumph of willpower
over strength
grace over
money…
—John Burnside, “Euro 96: A Fan’s Farewell”
A poem for World Football Day ⚽
https://www.un.org/en/observances/football-day
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #JohnBurnside #football #soccer #WorldFootballDay
Interview: Frances Crawford on giving the victim a voice in A BAD, BAD PLACE
Frances Crawford’s debut novel A BAD, BAD PLACE establishes an exciting new talent in Scottish crime fiction. SNACK Mag spoke to Frances to find out more.
https://snackmag.co.uk/interview-frances-crawford-on-giving-the-victim-a-voice-in-a-bad-bad-place
Tha sinn air a bhith ri rudan do-dhèanta a-rithist.
A’ crochadh san adhair, a’ feitheamh diog, tiotag, linn,
nas fhàide nas àirde na bu chòir a bhith comasach.
Chaidh leintean-T a dhèanamh dhinn mus do landaig sinn…
—Pàdraig MacAoidh, “Ris an do-dhèanta”
A poem for World Football Day ⚽
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/ris-an-do-dheanta/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #football #soccer #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #WorldFootballDay
Having glided smoothly upwards –
Up ...!
And up ...!
And up ...!
Behold, Tony Blair standing where he should be –
poised sixty years and more above
the city of his birth…
—Ron Butlin, “Tony Blair’s Butterfly Effect”
published in THE MAGICIANS OF SCOTLAND (Birlinn, 2015)
Listen to Ron Butlin read this poem on the Poetry Archive:
https://poetryarchive.org/poem/tony-blairs-butterfly-effect/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #PimeMinister #TonyBlair #ButterflyEffect
I see the old woman behind the flowering broom.
I have followed her from poem to poem …
—Iain Crichton Smith, “Old Woman”
published in Deer on the High Hills: Selected Poems (Carcanet, 2021)
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781800170940/deer-on-the-high-hills/
![A street corner in Shoreditch, London, UK. A white billboard stands above a single-storey building on the corner. The street curves away, with a black sign saying "24hr CAR WASH in yellow letters, and a lamp-post carries a speed-limit sign reading "20 ZONE". A young woman is crossing the street, possibly holding something in her arms. She is wearing a red shirt, a grey tank-top and an orange skirt. A couple of other people can be seen further down the street, standing on the pavements and talking to each other. Beyond the billboard we can see some trees, and a red-brick wall, possibly sheltering a low-level train line. Further in the distance, beyond the wall, a slender modern multi-storey building of glass and concrete rises up against a pale grey sky.
The white billboard has large black capital letters on it. They read:
THE CITY IS A MAGIC SCULPTURE OF
THE GROUP MIND THE CITY IS A
MYSTIC DREAM OF FOREST MEMORY\
WALLS ARE THE LAST GASP OF FAILING
IDEOLOGIES | FROM THE NEW GENERA-
TION A PSYCHIC LOVE WAVE WILL EX-
PLODE ACROSS ALL COUNTRIES \ IMMI-
GRANTS WILL BE HUGGED IN THE STRE-
ETS /YOU WILL RISE IN AIR BALLOONS/
THE FUTURE IS A RISK OF OUR HEARTS
Below the billboard is another poster, the same width as the billboard, but black, with white lettering. The letters get bigger, running the full width of the poster. The poster reads:
THE FUTURE IS AN INVISIBLE PLAYGROUND/
YA NO SOMOS TUS SIERVOS
/NO PASARAN |](/proxy/post_attachment/1067922/af2052dcd0.jpg "A street corner in Shoreditch, London, UK. A white billboard stands above a single-storey building on the corner. The street curves away, with a black sign saying \"24hr CAR WASH in yellow letters, and a lamp-post carries a speed-limit sign reading \"20 ZONE\". A young woman is crossing the street, possibly holding something in her arms. She is wearing a red shirt, a grey tank-top and an orange skirt. A couple of other people can be seen further down the street, standing on the pavements and talking to each other. Beyond the billboard we can see some trees, and a red-brick wall, possibly sheltering a low-level train line. Further in the distance, beyond the wall, a slender modern multi-storey building of glass and concrete rises up against a pale grey sky.
The white billboard has large black capital letters on it. They read:
THE CITY IS A MAGIC SCULPTURE OF
THE GROUP MIND THE CITY IS A
MYSTIC DREAM OF FOREST MEMORY\
WALLS ARE THE LAST GASP OF FAILING
IDEOLOGIES | FROM THE NEW GENERA-
TION A PSYCHIC LOVE WAVE WILL EX-
PLODE ACROSS ALL COUNTRIES \ IMMI-
GRANTS WILL BE HUGGED IN THE STRE-
ETS /YOU WILL RISE IN AIR BALLOONS/
THE FUTURE IS A RISK OF OUR HEARTS
Below the billboard is another poster, the same width as the billboard, but black, with white lettering. The letters get bigger, running the full width of the poster. The poster reads:
THE FUTURE IS AN INVISIBLE PLAYGROUND/
YA NO SOMOS TUS SIERVOS
/NO PASARAN |")
