A boy leaves a small house
Of sea light. He leaves
The sea smells, creel
And limpet and cod.
The boy walks between steep
Stone houses, echoing
Gull cries, the all-around
Choirs of the sea…
—George Mackay Brown, “Island School”
published in Carve the Runes: Selected Poems (Polygon 2021)
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/carve-the-runes/
#Scottish #literature #Orkney #poem #poetry #GeorgeMackayBrown #backtoschool
In Conversation: Callum McSorley
“I read THE CUTTING ROOM by Louise Welsh and everything clicked into place. Here was Glasgow, as I knew it but also totally different. Welsh had created a Glasgow that had all the glamour and seediness of hardboiled LA. This is what I wanted to write.”
Callum McSorley in conversation with Sindhu Rajasekaran about writing crime fiction & sequels, & his latest novel RAT RACE.
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)
Today, 29 August, marks the 96th anniversary of the final evacuation of St Kilda.
https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/newwriting/nws42/11111
Word of Mouth: Gaelic
Currently on BBC Sounds
Poet Michael Rosen in conversation with Gaelic language expert Roddy Maclean about the status of Gaelic in Scotland.
Among the facts Michael picks up is that Gaelic has no single word for Yes or No & that the landscape of the Highlands can be better understood by understanding the origin of Gaelic place names. He also gets to hear some of his work performed in Gaelic by Glasgow schoolchildren.
“…my habitual residence was on the blank and dreary northern shores of the Tay, near Dundee…”
—Mary Shelley, introduction to FRANKENSTEIN (1831 edn)
Mary Shelley (1797–1851) was born #OTD, 30 August. Prof Daniel Cook examines why Scotland mattered so much to Mary Shelley, & considers Shelley’s position in the Scottish Gothic tradition
@litstudies
https://www.nls.uk/papercut/mary-shelley-and-the-scottish-gothic-tradition/
#Scottish #literature #gothic #horror #Dundee #MaryShelley #Frankenstein #FrankensteinDay
The blind man did not hate me.
I saw him through the window,
through the rippling circle my own
hot breath had melted
in the spiky flowers of the frost…
—Liz Lochhead, “2. What the Creature Said”, from DREAMING FRANKENSTEIN & Collected Poems 1967–1984 (Birlinn, 2011)
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/dreaming-frankenstein-2/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Frankenstein #FrankensteinDay
“Can a man ‘make’ a feminist? It is the final riddle of a mesmerising mind game in which not even the heroine, and certainly not the author, can be trusted”
Alasdair Gray’s 1992 novel POOR THINGS was inspired by FRANKENSTEIN (& several other things)
https://alasdairgrayspace.net/who-is-alasdair-gray/poor-things
#Scottish #literature #MaryShelley #Frankenstein #FrankensteinDay
Everywhere she dies. Everywhere I go she dies.
No sunrise, no city square, no lurking beautiful mountain
but has her death in it.
—Norman MacCaig, “Memorial”
from THE POEMS OF NORMAN MacCAIG (Birlinn, 2009)
Today, 30 August, is Grief Awareness Day
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/the-poems-of-norman-maccaig/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #NormanMacCaig #grief #GriefAwarenessDay
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Was gefällt dir besser?
Schottisches Hochlandrind auf einer Weide, Acryl
--> https://www.artheroes.de/de/motiv/Schottisches-Hochlandrind-auf-einer-Weide-Ausschnitt/1960296
#cows #animals #farm #art #painting #artist #arte #contemporaryArt #colors #InteriorDesign #TraditionalArt #kunst #ArtForSale #handmade #MastoArt #FediArt #FediGiftShop #MastodonArt #BuyIntoArt #ArtistsOnMastodon #creativeToots #scottish #highlands
40 Years On: Aberdeen, Enlightenment, & Global Legacies
15 Oct, in-person & online – free
A landmark 1986 gathering placed Aberdeen at the centre of Scottish Enlightenment studies. This event revisits that scholarship & explores new perspectives on Aberdeen’s intellectual, cultural, & global impact
#Scottish #literature #culture #culturalstudies #Enlightenment #ScottishEnlightenment #18thcentury #Aberdeen
[To Sheila Lanyon, on the Flyleaf of a Book]
W. S. Graham
Inscribed by W. S. Graham on the flyleaf of a copy of THE WHITE THRESHOLD belonging to Sheila Lanyon, widow of the painter Peter Lanyon. The poem is dated June 18, 1966 & the “second summer” referred to is the second since her husband’s death, after a gliding accident, on August 31, 1964.
Published in POETRY, January 2018
Bookings are officially open for Rutherglen’s first-ever Book Festival. Taking place from 29 October to 21 November – with a special additional event on 7 December – the festival brings together author talks, readings, conversations, storytelling & creative workshops.
All events are FREE, but places are limited – explore the programme and book your favourites now!
A 🎂 🧵 for Violet Jacob (1863–1946) – poet, novelist, short story writer, & key figure in the 20th-century Scottish renaissance & Scots language revival – born #OTD, 1 September
1/8
https://www.scottishwomenwritersontheweb.net/writers-a-to-z/violet-jacob
#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #19thCentury #20thcentury #WomenWriters #VioletJacob
An lùib na droighne
anns an dris-choille
tha meas an fhoghair
toradh mo ghràidh…
—Niall O’Gallagher, “Crindreas”
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/crindreas/
#Scottish #literature #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #poem #poetry #autumn
“Though her characters struggle, their hardship does not sanctify them. Theirs is not an ennobling suffering. ‘I don’t write about people that are nice people,’ Owens said. ‘They’ve got to be sinners, with a wee touch of goodness here and there, you know.’”
Roxani Krystalli on Agnes Owens, in GUTTER Magazine
https://www.guttermag.co.uk/reviews/a-wee-touch-of-goodness
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #AgnesOwens #workingclass #workingclasswriters
Currently available on BBC Sounds: A WORKING MOTHER, by Agnes Owens
Ten years after WW2, our unreliable narrator Betty – arch, witty, clever – is married with children & feels trapped. While her husband, Adam, drinks and complains, Betty plots her escape…
@bookstodon
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0030x96
#Scottish #literature #20thcentury #womenwriters #AgnesOwens #workingclass #workingclasswriters #audiobooks
Queer Scottish Voices: the suspended blue blue air
16 September, Typewronger Books, Edinburgh. Free, ticketed
Join host Iain Morrison for an evening with Scottish poets David Kinloch & Colin Herd, & hear them read from their latest books & talk about what queer poetics means to them today in Scotland.
The evening is raising money for the Terrance Higgins Trust in Glasgow.
#Scottish #literature #poetry #LGBTQ #queer #queerliterature #Edinburgh
“Back home there was a heat wave. Arthur’s Seat was on fire, as were the Cairngorms … we felt untethered from time, from nature’s predictable rhythms. How one week felt like four seasons. A local artist said that the effects of climate change had been felt in the arctic for a long time, & that it seemed that us southerners were only noticing it now.”
Iona Lee considers storytelling as a means of survival in colder climates
The mile-high buildings flashed, flushed, greyed, went dark,
greyed, flushed, flashed, chameleons under flak
of cloud and sun…
—Edwin Morgan, “Clydegrad”
from CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020)
Today, 3 September, is Skyscraper Day
1/2
https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #sonnet #skyscraper #SkyscraperDay #EdwinMorgan #Glasgow #scifipoetry
Nothing But The Poem – Imtiaz Dharker
The Scottish Poetry Library’s resident podcast host Sam Tongue takes a deep dive into two poems – “Bairn” & “Stitch” – by one of Britain’s most beloved poets, Imtiaz Dharker.
https://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/podcast/nothing-but-the-poem-imtiaz-dharker/
Afro-Scottish Events 2026: Voices Beyond Borders
11 September, Glasgow – £0–£15
Afro-Scottish Events returns with an evening of poetry, music, culture & community celebrating the stories, sounds & experiences that connect us across borders
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/afro-scottish-events-2026-tickets-1990760184301
#Scottish #AfroScottish #literature #poetry #music #storytelling #culture
Seasonal Quartet: Ali Smith & New European Ensemble
30 October, Aberdeen: £0–£14
A concert performance with live readings by Ali Smith from her novels 𝘈𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘯, 𝘞𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘚𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 & 𝘚𝘶𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳, focussing on eternally relevant contemporary themes such as climate, ecology, migrations, social media, Brexit, war, populism.
https://sound-scotland.co.uk/event/seasonal-quartet-ali-smith-writer-new-european-ensemble
#Scottish #literature #novel #AliSmith #music #classicalmusic
Seven scythes leaned at the wall.
Beard upon golden beard
The last barley load
Swayed through the yard…
—George Mackay Brown, “Taxman”
Published in CARVE THE RUNES (Polygon, 2021)
https://birlinn.co.uk/product/carve-the-runes/
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Orkney #farming #farminghistory #harvest #GeorgeMacKayBrown
Reading by Touch: Scotland’s early tactile reading systems
What came before braille? Scotland played a key role in the early history of reading by touch, opening new possibilities for blind readers in the 19th century. Taylor Hare explores embossed pages, knotted strings & radical alphabets
https://www.nls.uk/collections/stories/printing-and-publishing/reading-by-touch/
#Scottish #literature #Scotland #BookHistory #blind #19thcentury #braille #printhistory #printing #bookmaking
Daft gowk, in macaroni dress,
Are ye come here to shaw your face,
Bowden wi’ pride o’ simmer gloss,
To cast a dash at Reikie’s cross…
—“On Seeing a Butterfly in the Street”, by Robert Fergusson (1750–1774) – born #OTD, 5 Sept. In his short life he reinvigorated #poetry in Scots. A 🎂🧵
1/10
#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #18thcentury #Edinburgh #RobertFergusson
![[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/1173374/f196474bde.webp "[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.")
