Poetry

Derek Walcott - White Egrets

10 Mar 2010

(Faber) Derek Walcott’s White Egrets was years in the writing, its publication coming after last year’s Poetrygate which resulted in his reputation smeared through allegations of sexual harassment. If there was one way in which Walcott could get the…

StAnza 2010 - Kei Miller interview

25 Feb 2010

In the historic surroundings of St Andrews resides one of the most interesting events in the literary calendar. The unassuming programme for StAnza sets out the expected author events, the star names like Seamus Heaney, the technique-polishing workshops…

The Golden Hour

18 Feb 2010

The Forest Cafe’s glorious, shambolic and boozy literary cabaret night, hosted as ever by the utterly affable Ryan Van Winkle, gets in on the Edinburgh City of Literature One Book / One City campaign. The theme this year is ‘Carry a Poem’, and readers…

Have meat, can eat

20 Jan 2010

Just when you thought it was safe to crack open your haggis... BURNS IS BACK. Yes, no sooner has the Year of Homecoming been safely consigned to the tartan time capsule than Burns Night 2010 rolls around, with the usual mix of traditional suppers…

Hot 100 2009 - Carol Ann Duffy profile

17 Dec 2009

In one year as Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy has made more of an impression than Andrew Motion managed in a decade in the job. Her appointment in itself was pretty iconoclastic, and we all dutifully reeled off the reasons why it was a historic event…

Tim Key dispels Wikipedia myths

4 Dec 2009

It’s been a whirlwind year for poet and stand-up Tim Key, what with him running off with the biggest prize in comedy. Brian Donaldson hears him nail a few internet myths

Breakfast with Burns

Finally, a few words from the lassies in his life

1 Sep 2009

250 years after his birth, more Scottish girls than ever have got the hots for The Bard. Alicia Devine sure does. The triumph of this raucous one-woman show is that as we hear from Burns’ mother, wife, and lovers. And from all the blethers between…

Bletherheads

Literary and performance talent on the cheap

21 Aug 2009

Why would you bother forking out your last twenty quid for a probably patchy big-name comedian when you can see the cream of Scotland’s literary and performance talent, live, for less than the price of a fish supper? The increasingly ubiquitous…

Tim Key

Poetry corner gets kind of busy

20 Aug 2009

Look behind you John Hegley, there’s a new comedy poet kid in town. With the limited Pleasance space Tim Key has at his disposal this year, he doesn’t get audience members up to do a Morris dance after having swapped their spectacles or some such…

Luke Wright

His concerns may be petty but the poetry is not

16 Aug 2009

You’ve got to hand it to Luke Wright. Since his first solo Fringe show in 2006, he’s come back to Edinburgh every year with a new collection of withering poems, each of which dissects the highs and lows of his chosen profession with equal menace and…

Sharon Olds - American Literary Legend

12 Aug 2009

It’s time to assess the sins of the father – and the mother. And there’s no one better to do so than one of America’s most influential poets, Sharon Olds, as famous for her tough stylistic swagger as her unflinching mind. Olds was born in 1942 and is…

Home truths

From fish factory worker to TS Eliot Prize-winning poet, Jen Hadfield talks to Kirstin Innes

6 Aug 2009

It’s been a strange old year for poetry. Although the highs of Carol Ann Duffy’s appointment as the first female Poet Laureate and the unpleasantness of Ruth Padel and Derek Walcott’s fight for the Oxford Professor of Poetry position have almost…

Irregular

19 Mar 2009

This is Joe Dunthorne. Some people out there have likened him to JD Salinger. Find out for yourself at Irregular, a new kinda club night run by Canongate Publishing, featuring live acts, poets, writers and DJs. Reading, performing and making merry…

Sex in the 21st century - Alternative Valentine’s

5 Feb 2009

‘Hello, is it me you’re looking for …?’ Some of the most romantic words ever written have come via the medium of song, so why not throw caution to the wind, and go all Sonny and Cher this February. Book you and yours into a recording studio for an hour…

Aoife Mannix & Raymond MacDonald - Other Voices

5 Feb 2009

JAZZ/POETRY Jazz and poetry has a lengthy if often problematic history of interaction, and remains a specialised taste. This collaboration between Irish poet and Glasgow saxophonist originated by accident. The two were brought together for an…

Scotland The Great - Nine Inch Will Please a Lady

22 Jan 2009

The Burnsian band I am in, with Malcolm Ross and my brother Russel, The Bum-Clocks, has a version of ‘Nine Inch’, a witty ditty in celebration of quantity. We usually locate it in our mash-up of the poetry of Burns and Iggy Pop which kicks off with ‘A…

Robert Burns: Rampant Robbie

1 Dec 2008

Seducer, sex machine, womaniser, charmer, bragger and a bit of a bastard. Scotland’s national poet, Rabbie Burns, was a loose-limbed man with one hell of a sex drive. His love life reads like something from a daytime TV show. There are illegitimate…

United Press poetry competition

27 Nov 2008

Poets are being asked to lift their pens in a bid to pocket a £1000 prize, as part of an initiative by United Press. ‘It’s free to enter, and the aim of the competition is to encourage more people to try writing poetry,’ said Peter Quinn, managing…

Laura Dockrill - Mistakes in the Background

30 Oct 2008

The emergence of a sassy-tongued poet who can relate to the yoof should be a good thing. And Laura Dockrill, aka MC Dockers, truly does seem to be articulating, in her unaffected, unchecked, stream of consciousness way, the existence of the Facebook…

Lemn Sissay - Listener

16 Oct 2008

POETRY COLLECTION Lemn Sissay’s latest poetry collection is not exciting fare. The main problem is that it simply lacks freshness with little that is striking or exceptional, largely because he borrows so heavily from idiom, cliché, and adage. There…

Hispanic Festival

16 Oct 2008

Delude yourself into thinking that there was actually a summer this year with the sun-drenched programme of this year's Hispanic Festival. Sweaty samba clubs, civilised poetry readings and a chance to learn flamenco. Various venues in Edinburgh, Thu…

Licence Pending

4 Sep 2008

Drew Taylor, compere and promoter of the Tron’s Licence Pending night, is outlining the ideas behind the event when he stops and checks himself. He’s just used the words ‘performance poetry industry’ and he feels the urge to add the caveat ‘if you can…

Simon Armitage

Pop poet turns wordy rock star

21 Aug 2008

Simon Armitage is a very modern poet, as happy to ruminate over Arctic Monkeys’ lyrics as he is to translate 14th century romantic poetry. During the 15 years since he handed in his notice as a probation officer to concentrate fully on his writing, he’s…

Kevin Williamson

Writing poetry on the run

14 Aug 2008

‘Rebel Inc involved a lot of chaos and a lot of confusion,’ says Kevin Williamson, founder of the one-time cult Edinburgh imprint. ‘And I can tell you that my days as a publisher are definitely over. I gave it all I could for ten years and wouldn’t go…

Afr-I-Can

17 Jul 2008

Running between June and September, Afr-I-can is a loose series of events, talks, workshops and concerts led by artists of African origin and celebrating African achievement. Although the events are mainly aimed at families of African and Caribbean…