Eggplant.place

120d

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

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34d

Twa Cats anes on a Cheese did light,
To which baith had an equal Right,
But Disputes, sic as aft arise,
Fell out at sharing of the Prize…

—Allan Ramsay (1686–1758), “The twa Cats & the Cheese”
digitised by the National Library of Scotland

Today, 8 August, is International Cat Day
😾 😾 🧀 🐵

https://digital.nls.uk/special-collections-of-printed-music/archive/105690319

#Scottish #literature #poem #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #18thcentury #fable #humor #humour #cats #InternationalCatDay

The twa Cats and the Cheese
Fable IX
by Allan Ramsay

Twa Cats anes on a Cheese did light,
To which baith had an equal Right,
But Disputes, sic as aft arise,
Fell out at sharing of the Prize;
Fair Play said ane, Ye bite o’er thick
Thae Teeth of yours gang wonder quick:
Let’s part it, else lang or the Moon
Be chang’d, the Kebuck will be done.

ALT

But wha’s to do’t,—They’re Parties baith,
And ane may do the other Skaith,
Sae with Consent away they trudge,
And laid the Cheese before a Judge,
A Monkey with a campsho Face,
Clerk to a Justice of the Peace,
A Judge he seem’d in Justice skill’d,
When he his Master’s Chair fill’d;
Now Umpire chosen for Division,
Baith sware to stand by his Decision.
Demure he looks.—The Cheese he pales,—
He prives it good,—Ca’s for the Scales,
His Knife whops throw’t,—In twa it fell,
He puts ilk Haff in either Shell;
Said he, We’ll truly weigh the Case,
And strickest Justice shall have Place,
Then lifting up the Scales, he fand
The tane bang up, the ither stand;
Syne out he took the heaviest Haff,
And ate a Knoost o’t quickly aff,
And try’d it syne,—It now prov’d light,
Friend Cats, said he, We’ll do ye right.
Then to the ither Haff he fell,
And laid till’t teughly Tooth and Nail,
Till weigh’d again it lightest prov’d:
The Judge wha this sweet Process lov’d,
Still weigh’d the Case, and still ate on,
Till Clients baith were weary grown,

ALT

And tenting how the Matter went,
Cry’d, Come, come Sir, We’re baith content.
Ye Fools, quoth he, and Justice too
Maun be content as well as you.
Thus grumbled they, thus he went on,
Till baith the Haves were near hand done;
Poor Pousies now the Daffine saw
Of gawn for Nignyes to the Law:
And bill’d the Judge that he wad please
To give them the remaining Cheese:
To which his Worship grave reply’d,
The Dues of Court maun first be paid.
Now Justice pleas’d,—What’s to the Fore
Will but right scrimply clear your Score;
That’s our Decreet,—Gae Hame and Sleep,
And thank us ye’re win aff sae cheap.

ALT

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120d

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

#Scottish #literature #poetry #haiku #naturepoetry #Glasgow

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120d

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

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120d

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’

https://www.lrb.co.uk/podcasts-and-videos/podcasts/close-readings/narrative-poems-tam-o-shanter-by-robert-burns-and-peter-grimes-by-george-crabbe

#Scottish #literature #poetry #RobertBurns #Romanticism

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111d

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

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119d

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

#Scottish #literature #crimefiction

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119d

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

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#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thCentury #EdwinMuir #Orkney

"A Birthday"
by Edwin Muir

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
In hedge or marsh or ditch.
I gather to my heart
Beast, insect, flower, earth, water, fire,
In absolute desire,
As fifty years ago.

Acceptance, gratitude:
The first look and the last
When all between has passed
Restore ingenuous good
That seeks no personal end
Nor strives to mar or mend.
Before I touched the food
Sweetness ensnared my tongue;
Before I saw the wood
I loved each nook and bend,
The track going right and wrong;
Before I took the road
Direction ravished my soul.
Now that I can discern
It whole or almost whole,
Acceptance and gratitude
Like travellers return
And stand where they first stood.

ALT

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119d

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

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-kingdom-in-perplexity-voices-of-seventeenth-century-scotland-tickets-1989653689746

#Scottish #literature #history #earlymodern #17thcentury

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118d

“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

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https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2020/12/helen-cruickshank-bide-the-storm-ye-canna-hinder/

#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters

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33d

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

Edwin Morgan
The Death of Marilyn Monroe

What innocence? Whose guilt? What eyes? Whose breast?
Crumpled orphan, nembutal bed,
white hearse, Los Angeles,
DiMaggio! Los Angeles! Miller! Los Angeles! America!
That Death should seem the only protector –
That all arms should have faded, and the great cameras and lights
become an inquisition and a torment –
That the many acquaintances, the autograph-hunters, the
inflexible directors, the drive-in admirers should become
a blur of incomprehension and pain –
That lonely Uncertainty should limp up, grinning, with
bewildering barbiturates, and watch her undress and lie
down and in her anguish
call for him! call for him to strengthen her with what could
only dissolve her! A method
of dying, we are shaken, we see it. Strasberg!
Los Angeles! Olivier! Los Angeles! Others die
and yet by this death we are a little shaken, we feel it,
America.
Let no one say communication is a cantword.
They had to lift her hand from the bedside telephone.
But what she had not been able to say
perhaps she had said. “All I had was my life.
I have no regrets, because if I made
any mistakes, I was responsible.
There is now – and there is the future.
What has happened is behind. So
it follows you around? So what?” – This
to a friend, ten days before.
And so she was responsible.
And if she was not responsible, not wholly responsible, Los Angeles?
Los Angeles? Will it follow you around? Will the slow
white hearse of the child of America follow you around?

ALT

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118d

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!

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #whisky #WorldWhiskyDay

A Recipe for Whisky
Ron Butlin

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 . . .

All this, distill. And cask. And wait.
The senselessness of human things resolves
to who we are – our present fate.
Let’s taste, let’s savour and enjoy.
Let’s share once more.
Another glass for absent friends. Pour
until the bottle’s done.

Here’s life! Here’s courage to go on!

ALT

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117d

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

$A street corner in Shoreditch, London, UK. A white billboard stands above a single-storey building on the corner. The street curves away, with a black sign saying "24hr CAR WASH in yellow letters, and a lamp-post carries a speed-limit sign reading "20 ZONE". A young woman is crossing the street, possibly holding something in her arms. She is wearing a red shirt, a grey tank-top and an orange skirt. A couple of other people can be seen further down the street, standing on the pavements and talking to each other. Beyond the billboard we can see some trees, and a red-brick wall, possibly sheltering a low-level train line. Further in the distance, beyond the wall, a slender modern multi-storey building of glass and concrete rises up against a pale grey sky. The white billboard has large black capital letters on it. They read: THE CITY IS A MAGIC SCULPTURE OF THE GROUP MIND THE CITY IS A MYSTIC DREAM OF FOREST MEMORY\ WALLS ARE THE LAST GASP OF FAILING IDEOLOGIES | FROM THE NEW GENERA- TION A PSYCHIC LOVE WAVE WILL EX- PLODE ACROSS ALL COUNTRIES \ IMMI- GRANTS WILL BE HUGGED IN THE STRE- ETS /YOU WILL RISE IN AIR BALLOONS/ THE FUTURE IS A RISK OF OUR HEARTS Below the billboard is another poster, the same width as the billboard, but black, with white lettering. The letters get bigger, running the full width of the poster. The poster reads: THE FUTURE IS AN INVISIBLE PLAYGROUND/ YA NO SOMOS TUS SIERVOS /NO PASARAN |$

ALT

Edited 117d ago

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111d

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

#Scottish #literature #JamesKelman #CallforPapers

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61d

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

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110d

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 🎂🧵

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkYRPGGto2Q

#Scottish #literature #womenwriters #20thcentury #AgnesOwens #workingclass #workingclasswriters

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81d

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

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https://www.thenational.scot/news/17455955.joan-ure-the-scots-poet-and-playwright-who-set-a-precedent/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #poet #drama #playwright #20thcentury #womenwriters

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34d

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

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58894

#Scottish #literature #cats #InternationalCatDay #folklore

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. One went to the window, put a black cap on its head, cried “Hurrah for London!” and vanished. The other cats, one by one, did the same. The cap of the last fell off, and the shepherd caught it, put it on his own head, cried “Hurrah for London!” and followed. He reached London in a twinkling, and with his companions went to drink wine in a cellar. He got drunk and fell asleep. In the morning he was caught, taken before a judge, and sentenced to be hanged. At the gallows he entreated to be allowed to wear the cap he had on in the cellar; it was a present from his mother, and he would like to die with it on. When it came the rope was round his neck. He clapped the cap on his head, and cried “Hurrah for Kintail!” He disappeared with the gallows about his neck, and his friends in Kintail, having by this time missed him, and being assembled in the bothy prior to searching the hills, were much surprised at his strange appearance.

ALT

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60d

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

#Scottish #literature #comic #graphicnovel #kidlit

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108d

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

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https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2021/12/a-restless-intellect-florence-dixie-1855-1905/

#Scottish #literature #Victorian #19thcentury #womenwriters

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108d

“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/

#Scottish #literature #football #soccer #worldfootballday

A white football (i.e. soccer ball – the game where you mostly hit the ball with your feet, rather than carry it in your hands, I'm just saying) – the Mouldmaster 5 Mitre. It's white, moulded in plastic, with a rough finish and with shallow grooves to mimic panels on a leather football.

ALT

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108d

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

ALT

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108d

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

Ris an do-dhèanta
Pàdraig MacAoidh

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.

Tha sinn air fhaighinn tharais air na rudan as miosa,
a’ coiseachd nam mìltean fada sin – coig ceud, coig mìle –
gus cnàmhan agus buill-nasg a chur ceart, gus ar corragan a shìneadh,
agus mion-car a chur air an t-saoghal, tharais air a’ bhàr.

O agus chum sin ar n-anail nar milleanan,
air bhoile le chèile, a’ coimhead bàla a’ tùirling
na àrc àbhaisteach mìorbhaileach coileanta
agus a’ tuiteam, meath mar bhogha-frois, dhan talamh.

Seadh, rinn sinn rudan do-dhèanta. Ach a-nis –
ann am Miami, Boston, ge b’àit – tha againn rin dèanamh
a-rithist. Agus an uairsin, yes sir, nì sinn boogie,
ri òran sam bith a tha sinn ag iarraidh.

ALT

At the Impossible
Peter Mackay

We’ve been at the impossible again. Levitating.
Hanging in the air one, two seconds, an age,
longer and higher than should be possible.
The T-shirts were printed before we’d hit the ground.

We have recovered from the worst of times,
walking long miles – five hundred, five thousand –
to wrest bones and ligaments back to fitness
and tip the world over with the last skelf of skin.

And we have held a million breaths
in frantic unison, watching a ball tumble
in its everyday, humdrum perfect parabola,
to fall plump as a rainbow back to earth.

O we’ve been at the impossible but must now –
in Miami, Boston, anywhere, anyhow –
do it all over again. And then yes sir, we shall boogie,
absolutely, to whatever song we choose.

ALT

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81d

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