scottish

241d

Pàdraig MacAoidh: In Conversation at The Linen Hall, Belfast

Writer Róise Ní Bhaoill talks to Pàdraig MacAoidh about his work; the literary, linguistic and cultural connections between Scotland and the island of Ireland, to which he has a strong connection; and about what he hopes to achieve in his role as Scotland’s national poet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA9Cu4E38fM

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #Ireland #poetry

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239d

The burn was big wi’ spate,
An’ there cam’ tum’lin doon
Tapsalteerie the half o’ a gate,
Wi’ an auld fish-hake an’ a great muckle skate,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ the croon!

—David Rorie, “The Lum Hat Wantin’ the Croon”

As things start to thaw in the north-east, mind how ye go…

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #song #20thcentury #humour #Scots #Scotslanguage

The Lum Hat Wantin’ the Croon
Dr David Rorie

The burn was big wi’ spate,
An’ there cam’ tum’lin doon
Tapsalteerie the half o’ a gate,
Wi’ an auld fish-hake an’ a great muckle skate,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ the croon!

The auld wife stude on the bank
As they gaed swirlin’ roun’,
She took a gude look an’ syne says she:
“There’s food an’ there’s firin’ gaun to the sea,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ the croon!”

Sae she gruppit the branch o’ a saugh,
An’ she kickit aff ane o’ her shoon,
An’ she stuck oot her fit – but it caught in the gate,
An’ awa’ she went wi’ the great muckle skate,
An’ the lum hat wantin’ the croon!

She floatit fu’ mony a mile,
Past cottage an’ village an’ toon,
She’d an awfu’ time astride o’ the gate,
Though it seemed to gree fine wi’ the great muckle skate,
An’ the lum hat wantin’ the croon!

A fisher was walkin’ the deck,
By the licht o’ his pipe an’ the mune,
When he sees an auld body astride o’ a gate,
Come bobbin’ alang in the waves wi’ a skate,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ the croon!

“There’s a man overboard!” cries he,
“Ye leear!” says she, “I’ll droon!
A man on a boord! It’s a wife on a gate,
It’s auld Mistress Mackintosh here wi’ a skate,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ the croon!”

Was she nippit to death at the Pole?
Has India bakit her broon?
I canna tell that, but whatever her fate,
I’ll wager ye’ll find it was shared by a skate,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ the croon!

There’s a moral attached to my sang,
On greed ye should aye gie a froon,
When ye think o’ the wife that was lost for a gate,
An auld fish-hake an’ a great muckle skate,
An’ a lum hat wantin’ a croon!

Edited 239d ago

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241d

“A man ready, willing and able to walk bravely into familiar genre territory and then ingeniously rearrange everything that makes it familiar, Scotsman Alan Sharp proved himself an astute chronicler of America’s dark heart, and captured it with a stunningly honed outsider’s eye.”

—FilmInk celebrates author & screenwriter Alan Sharp (1934–2013) – born #OTD, 12 Jan

1/5

https://www.filmink.com.au/unsung-auteurs-alan-sharp/

#Scottish #literature #cinema #film #AlanSharp

Edited 241d ago

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241d

Oidhche Challain: No admission without a rhyme

Happy Old New Year!

After the 1750 Calendar Act changed the date of New Year’s Day, some Gaels – to make sure they didn’t miss it – chose to celebrate both. Dr Dòmhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart discusses the once ubiquitous Highland tradition of Oidhche Challain:

https://www.whfp.com/2020/01/08/oidhche-challain-no-admission-without-a-rhyme/

#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #poetry #tradition #NewYear #Highlands #Hebrides #OldNewYear

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145d

I pulled all my mother’s expectations
with me, like a child’s kite, giddy with stir
of spring…

—Lynn Valentine, “St Kilda Crossing”
from DON’T. EVEN. ASK. TOO. HOT. New Writing Scotland 42 (ASL, 2024)

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws42/

#Scottish #literature #WorldHeritageDay #poem #poetry

ST KILDA CROSSING
by Lynn Valentine

I pulled all my mother’s expectations
with me, like a child’s kite, giddy with stir
of spring. Because she was cancer-cracked
I turned tourist by proxy, crouched into cleits
looking for leavings of last century.

I photographed fawn smallness of Soays
felt the crash of wind-whipped stacs,
my pockets salt-filled. I leant
on those islands as my mother leant on me,
filled my lungs with their breeze
and leaping green language of sea.

I tried to hold my breath for days,
took it back to my mother, exhaled
island air on her weakened frame –
whispered broken stories of birds and rain.

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145d

But Edinburgh is a mad god’s dream,
Fitful and dark,
Unseizable in Leith
And wildered by the Forth…

—Hugh MacDiarmid, “Midnight”
published in The Complete Poems (1978)

Today, 18 April, is World Heritage Day. Edinburgh’s medieval Old Town & Georgian New Town form one of Scotland’s UNESCO World Heritage sites

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support/listing-scheduling-and-designations/world-heritage-sites/old-and-new-towns-of-edinburgh/

#Scottish #Literature #WorldHeritageDay #architecture #builtenvironment #poem #poetry #Edinburgh #MacDiarmid

Midnight
Hugh MacDiarmid

Glasgow is null,
Its suburbs shadows
And the Clyde a cloud.

Dundee is dust
And Aberdeen a shell.

But Edinburgh is a mad god’s dream,
Fitful and dark,
Unseizable in Leith
And wildered by the Forth,
But irresistibly at last
Cleaving to sombre heights
Of passionate imagining
Till stonily,
From soaring battlements,
Earth eyes Eternity.

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240d

Today, 13 January, is the Feast Day of St Mungo (AKA St Kentigern), patron saint of Glasgow. Edwin Morgan’s “Colloquy in Glaschu” imagines a conversation between St Mungo & St Columba.

From CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)

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https://www.carcanet.co.uk/cgi-bin/indexer?product=9781784109967

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #EdwinMorgan #Glasgow #Saints #StMungo

Colloquy in Glaschu
by Edwin Morgan

God but le son du cor, Columba sighed
to Kentigern, est triste au fond silvarum!
Frater, said Kentigern, I see no harm.
J'aime le son du cor, when day has died,
deep in the bois, and oystercatchers rise
before the fowler as he trudges home
and sermo lupi loosens the grey loam.
À I’horizon lointain is paradise,
abest silentium, le cor éclate –
– et meurt, Columba mused, but Kentigern
replied, renaît et se prolonge. The cell
is filled with song. Outside, puer cantat.
Veni venator sings the gallus kern.
The saints dip startled cups in Mungo’s well.

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240d

Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin
Ourhailit with my feble fantasie,
Lyk til a leif that fallis from a trie
Or til a reid ourblawin with the wind…

—“Sonet of Venus & Cupid”, by Mark Alexander Boyd (1563–1601), born #OTD, 13 Jan
published in THE GOLDEN TREASURY OF SCOTTISH VERSE, @canongatebooks 2021

https://canongate.co.uk/books/3267-the-golden-treasury-of-scottish-verse/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #sonnet #16thcentury #17thcentury #earlymodern #Scots #Scotslanguage

Sonet of Venus and Cupid
by Mark Alexander Boyd

Fra banc to banc, fra wod to wod, I rin
Ourhailit with my feble fantasie,
Lyk til a leif that fallis from a trie
Or til a reid ourblawin with the wind.
Twa gods gyds me: the ane of tham is blind,
Ye, and a bairn brocht up in vanitie;
The nixt a wyf ingenrit of the se,
And lichter nor a dauphin with hir fin.

Unhappie is the man for evirmair
That teils the sand and sawis in the aire;
Bot twyse unhappier is he, I lairn,
That feidis in his hairt a mad desyre,
And follows on a woman throw the fyre,
Led be a blind and teichit be a bairn.

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145d

St Magnus International Festival 2026
19–28 June

2026 marks the 50th St Magnus International Festival, Orkney’s annual midsummer celebration of the arts, featuring a variety of events in literature, music, theatre, dance, & more

Programme & tickets now available

https://stmagnusfestival.com

#Scottish #literature #culture #music #theatre #dance #festival #Orkney #StMagnus #StMagnusFestival

19–28 June 2026
Midsummer Nights | 59 Degrees North | Made in Orkney

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238d

“I have a harmonium and it’s going to explode in two minutes”

Ivor Cutler (1923–2006) – poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist, humorist – was born #OTD, 15 Jan

In 2013, to mark what would have been his 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 celebrated his life & career:

1/7

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0381jzt

#Scottish #literature #poetry #music #humour #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler

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236d

Straight Outta Compton (Mackenzie)

Edward Compton Mackenzie (1883–1972) was born #OTD, 17 Jan. Mainly remembered today for his 1947 comedy WHISKY GALORE, he wrote more than 100 books & influenced writers such as F Scott Fitzgerald, George Orwell, & Cyril Connolly

A 🎂🧵

1/4

https://unherd.com/2022/11/the-forgotten-genius-of-compton-mackenzie/

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #modernism #ComptonMackenzie #FScottFitzgerald #GeorgeOrwell #CyrilConnolly

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125d

In Conversation: Aslı Tohumcu with Kirsty Logan
28 May, Glasgow Women’s Library – free

Aslı Tohumcu & Kirsty Logan unpack the power of queer feminist folklore re-tellings. Drawing on their own writing, both writers will explore how traditional folklore, whether from Turkey or Scotland, can help us understand present-day complexities

https://womenslibrary.org.uk/event/in-conversation-asli-tohumcu-with-kirsty-logan/

#Scottish #Turkish #literature #folklore #queer #queerfiction #feminism #Scotland #Turkey

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237d

At the raw end of winter
the mountain is half snow, half
dun grass. Only when snow
moves does it become a hare…

—Anna Crowe, “A Calendar of Hares”
published in A SECRET HISTORY OF RHUBARB (Mariscat, 2004)

https://annacrowepoet.com/2021/04/21/a-calendar-of-hares/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #naturepoetry #hare

A Calendar of Hares
Anna Crowe

for Valerie Gillies

1. At the raw end of winter
the mountain is half snow, half
dun grass. Only when snow
moves does it become a hare.

2. If you can catch a hare
and look into its eye,
you will see the whole world.

3. That day in March
watching two hares boxing
at the field’s edge, she felt
the child quicken.

4. It is certain Midas never saw a hare
or he would not have lusted after gold.

5. When the buzzard wheels
like a slow kite overhead
the hare pays out the string.

6. The man who tells you
he has thought of everything
has forgotten the hare.

7. The hare’s form, warm yet empty.
Stumbling upon it, he felt his heart
lurch and race beneath his ribs.

8. Beset by fears, she became
the hare who hears
the mowers’ voices growing louder.

9. Light as the moon’s path over the sea,
the run of the hare over the land.

10. The birchwood a dapple
of fallen gold: a carved hare
lies in a Pictish hoard.

11. Waking to the cry of a hare
she ran and found the child sleeping.

12. November stiffens
into December: hare and grass
have grown a thick coat of frost.

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237d

The strange case of Robert Louis Stevenson

Alastair Benn is joined by Professor Leo Damrosch, author of Storyteller: The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson, to explore the life & legacy of the celebrated writer, including one of his most enduring literary achievements, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnJ2R6EgzZ0

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #RobertlouisStevenson #JekyllandHyde

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234d

George MacBeth (1932–1992) was born #OTD, 19 Jan

“MacBeth’s language is beautifully melodic: the stanzas unfold like operatic arias, becoming more florid & complex in thought as the poem develops…”

—Carol Rumens on MacBeth’s “The God of Love”

1/2

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jun/07/poem-week-god-love-macbeth

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #naturepoetry #naturewriting

The poem is too long for ALT text – it can be read online via the shared link:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2010/jun/07/poem-week-god-love-macbeth

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126d

Dinna be glaikit, dinna be ower smert,
dinna craw croose, dinna be unco blate,
dinna breenge in, dinna be ayewis late,
dinna steek yer lugs, dinna steek yer hert…

—James Robertson, “A Manifesto for MSPs”
published in Voyage of Intent (Scottish Book Trust/Luath Press, 2005)

https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/manifesto-msps/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #ScottishElections #politics #ScottishPolitics #ScottishParliament #Scots #Scotslanguage

A Manifesto for MSPs
James Robertson

Dinna be glaikit, dinna be ower smert,
dinna craw croose, dinna be unco blate,
dinna breenge in, dinna be ayewis late,
dinna steek yer lugs, dinna steek yer hert.
Dinna be sleekit, dinna be a sook,
dinna creesh nae loof for future favour,
dinna swick nor swither, hash nor haiver,
dinna be soor o face, and dinna jouk.
Open yer airms and minds tae folk in need,
hain frae fylin and skaith the land and sea,
tak tent o justice and the commonweal,
ding doon hypocrisy, wanthrift and greed,
heeze up the banner o humanity,
seek oot the truth and tae the truth be leal.

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235d

We went each Sunday for the mass
recited in my parent’s language
that wasn’t mine. The Gaelic gospel

that was just sound, pure sound, to me.
I rose and kneeled, and listened as
my people traded vowel for vowel…

—Niall Campbell, “Tongues of Water”
published in THE ISLAND IN THE SOUND (Bloodaxe Books, 2024)

https://www.bloodaxebooks.com/ecs/product/the-island-in-the-sound-1361

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #minoritylanguages

Tongues of Water
by Niall Campbell

We went each Sunday for the mass
recited in my parent’s language
that wasn’t mine. The Gaelic gospel

that was just sound, pure sound, to me.
I rose and kneeled, and listened as
my people traded vowel for vowel;

my whole small world, this flowing water.
Back then, I sat and heard the ocean
in their unknowable call,

that same unknowable response.
My parents stood in the psalm’s current
like waders gone out, as I settled

knee-deep on a second bank,
hearing only the sound of a stream,
believing only the sound the stream makes.

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234d

Lord, when I’m speechless
when something – not just sorrow
but under that – a dull, numb, nameless dreich
about the heart I hardly seem to have…

—Diana Hendry, “Psalm 88 Blues”
Published in TWELVE LILTS (Mariscat Press, 2003)

A poem for Blue Monday – officially the most depressing day of the year…

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #BlueMonday

Psalm Eighty-Eight Blues
by Diana Hendry

Lord, when I’m speechless
when something – not just sorrow
but under that – a dull, numb, nameless dreich
about the heart I hardly seem to have,
when this afflicts me,
when hope’s been cancelled,
when the pilot light of me’s put out,
when every reflex and response
has been extinguished,

send word, snowdrop, child, light.

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234d

Some good things have come from Davos …

“It was here that Robert Louis Stevenson overcame his writer’s block and finished Treasure Island; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle started skiing in the Alps; and Thomas Mann thought of the idea for The Magic Mountain”

1/5

https://lithub.com/a-brief-literary-history-of-davos/

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #Victorian #RobertLouisStevenson #SirArthurConanDoyle #Davos #writersblock #skiing #ThomasMann

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233d

I saw the dead upon St Laurence Wake
Sailing in beautiful Brimvald. They were young,
Younger than death and life, with a sweet tongue
I have heard in my blood before…

—“The Vikings”, by Olive Fraser (1909–1977) – born #OTD, 20 Jan, & a poet whose work was sadly neglected in her lifetime. A 🎂 🧵

1/6

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #womenwriters #OliveFraser #Vikings

Olive Fraser
1909-77

THE VIKINGS

King Haro's navy met on St Laurence Wake in 1263 at Ronaldsvo under the leadership of his great ship Brimvald

I saw the dead upon St Laurence Wake
Sailing in beautiful Brimvald. They were young,
Younger than death and life, with a sweet tongue
I have heard in my blood before,
Dreaming it was the wild gannets that make
Their comment upon Sulna-stapa shore.
I creid upon the dead, 'Why is your face
So beautiful in the regretless place?

'Surely among the dead there is no will
For dragon-necks of gold and for straight sails,
And Brimvald with the silver bitterns' tails
Is quiet under dark skerries now.'
'O we are loved among the living still,
We are forgiven among the dead. We plough
In the old narrows of the spirit. We
Have woven our wealth into your mystery.'

And I remembered words that I had heard
And never heard. And vessels that I knew
And thought were visions. The mute swans that flew
Over grey islands were like these
And yet were nothing. Once at Herlesferd
I saw a ship whose path on the green seas
Made joy to brindled sea-birds, and my breath
Was dangerous and scant, bitter like death.

'O if you died upon St Laurence Wake
Why are you beautiful and young,' I cried
'Like dreams of you I saw on a great tide
Lovelier and more young than I?
Even when I heard the wild white eagles take
Over the earth with their cruel minstrelsy
You were more light than I have ever been.'
They said, 'We are your Soul that you have seen.'

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234d

Creative Conversations: Rachelle Atalla
20 January, University of Glasgow & online – free

Rachelle Atalla is a Scottish-Egyptian novelist, short story writer & screenwriter. Her first novel, THE PHARMACIST, is now in development for film with Compact Pictures & the BFI. THIRSTY ANIMALS is her second novel & has been optioned by STV. Her most recent book is THE SALT FLATS

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-conversations-rachelle-atalla-tickets-1977613863301

#Scottish #literature #writing #screenwriting #dystopia #dystopianfiction

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109d

Sit down & strap in: it’s going to be a long, wild Scottish literature 🧵…

What 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Scotsman was caught up in a South American civil war before he was 20? Wrote a book that inspired an Oscar-winning film? Met a runaway teenager in Paris & married her against the wishes of his family? Lost his ranch to raiding Apaches?

1/18

#Scottish #literature #19thcentury #20thcentury #Victorian #Edwardian

A still from THE MISSION (1986). Robert De Niro, with a black beard and swept-back dark hair, stands in a haze of smoke in a jungle scene. He is dressed in a black shirt, and is holding a rapier out in front of him in his right hand. His left is on his hip, in a fencer's fighting stance. He looks unsmilingly along the length of his sword to whatever faces him.

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232d

chats in squirrel are limited
to a sort of Roman salute
foreleg extended then folded
open paw on breast as if to say
Look I take you in my open paw
and hold you to my heart
then it gets tricky…

—William Bonar, “SQRL”
published in OFFERING (Red Squirrel Press, 2015)

Happy #SquirrelAppreciationDay 🐿️ – 21 January – to all who celebrate

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

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #squirrel #squirrels #SquirrelAppreciationDay

SQRL
by William Bonar

chats in squirrel are limited
to a sort of Roman salute
foreleg extended then folded
open paw on breast as if to say
Look‍‍‍‍‍‍ I take you in my open paw
and hold you to my heart
then it gets tricky

the erect position fosters
rhetorical expansiveness

one paw clutches
the purple edge
of a senatorial toga
while the other describes
a democratic arc
enfolding all squirrels
to its furry bosom

Nuts it declaims
Nuts nuts nuts

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232d

Voices from the Archives: Mary, Burns & Lochhead
29 Jan, Perth. Tickets £8.50/£6

A panel discussion examining 3 manuscripts, each offering a powerful lens on Mary, Queen of Scots:

📜 her final letter, written just hours before her execution
🪶 Robert Burns' poetic tribute “Lament of Mary, Queen of Scots”
⌨️ Liz Lochhead's bold reimagining in her play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off

https://www.perthshireboxoffice.com/whats-on/voices-from-the-archives-mary-burns-and-lochhead

#Scottish #literature #history #MaryQueenofScots #poetry #drama

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195d

Thon tree,
earthfast at the foot
of your Alpine meadow,

dark, with mossy branches,
– apple perhaps –

can you give it a message?
Can you please say spring
will be there soon?

—Kathleen Jamie, “Old Women”
published in THE BONNIEST COMPANIE (Picador, 2015)

https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/the-bonniest-companie/9781509801718

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #spring

Kathleen Jamie
Old Women

Thon tree,
earthfast at the foot
of your Alpine meadow,

dark, with mossy branches,
– apple perhaps –

can you give it a message?
Can you please say spring
will be there soon?

It’s creeping up the mountain
as though carried on an old woman’s back.

When we’re old women
we will fetch spring too.

You know the tree I mean.

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