Poetry
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Helen Ivory - Waiting for Bluebeard
16 May 2013
The poet's latest collection dissolves the barriers between reality and fantasy
In what is undoubtedly her most bewitching poetry collection to date, Helen Ivory peels away the layers of reality and leaves her reader a tantalising world to explore. Each poem is beautifully woven together to create a dream-like narrative. Through…
Writer and perfume expert Alex Musgrave delivers talk on poetry and scent
10 May 2013
Custom-scented verse, live music and free wine
What does poetry smell like? Would a rose by any other name smell... well, let's save the rest for Alex Musgrave AKA perfume blogger the Silver Fox, as well as a poet, novelist and business manager at the Edinburgh branch of perfumery store…
Interview: John Cooper Clarke set for 2013 UK tour
9 May 2013
Punk, poet and comic recaps 35-year career with humour and fresh insight
Like a recently awakened raven, all hair teased to eternity and trademark skinny suit, John Cooper Clarke is one of the most unique figures in poetry and punk. His forthright poetry, delivered in a breathless, freight-train rush of breath, was perfectly…
Andrew Philip - The North End of the Possible
17 Apr 2013
Collection of poems of love, place and politics highlights Philip’s considerable formal talents
Salt cements its reputation for fresh contemporary poetry with this much-anticipated second full collection from acclaimed Scottish poet Andrew Philip. Humour and invention are mainstays of Philip’s work, and in both English and Scots, his wit leads us…
2013 StAnza lecture delivered by National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke
14 Mar 2013
Poet cites elegiac poem Y Gododdin as shared cultural reference point of Welsh and Scots
The StAnza lecture given by Gillian Clarke, the National Poet of Wales started by referring back to a Britain when Brythonic was spoken throughout the land extending from Wales into the Midlands and through Cumbria as far north as Fife. This immediately…
Gillian Clarke, Liz Lochhead and Mark Doty among Stanza 2013 highlights
12 Mar 2013
St Andrews poetry festival focusses on poetic forms and shared legacy of ancient Britons
The five days of StAnza has delivered its stimulating mix of poetry, masterclasses, workshops and slam with sorties into art, music, and sculpture along the way. Despite, the sudden closure of the Byre theatre which had become the central hub of the…
StAnza's Poetry Breakfasts streaming online
8 Mar 2013
Those unable to make it to the St Andrews-based poetry festival can watch online
The StAnza Poetry Festival 2013 is currently in full swing, with wordsmiths Robin Roberston, John Hegley and Gillian Clarke joining Scotland's Poet Laureate Liz Lochhead in St Andrews. This weekend the festival, which runs until Sun 10 Mar, will be…
StAnza 2013 to feature appearances by Liz Lochhead, Luke Wright and John Burnside
22 Feb 2013
The poetry festival will also feature art exhibitions, including screenprints by Ian Hamilton Finlay
This year’s StAnza has already had its ups and downs. The recent shock closure of the Byre Theatre in St Andrews (StAnza’s customary nerve centre) almost spelled disaster for the international poetry festival: with the announcement made just weeks…
Luke Wright - Mondeo Man
22 Feb 2013
Poetry collection with a rich strain of empathy from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe favourite
Performance poet Luke Wright’s Cynical Ballads was an unquestioned highlight of the 2011 Edinburgh Fringe, earning gushing reviews for his witty, unsparing view of modern England. Several pieces from that show are reproduced here in his debut poetry…
StAnza, Fife Jazz Festival and other events to continue in wake of Byre Theatre's closure
28 Jan 2013
The St Andrews theatre is set to close on Thu 31 Jan; scheduled shows will go on in new venues
The Byre Theatre, St Andrews, is being forced to shut down because of its financial difficulties. The theatre has struggled to cover its costs in recent years, with problems exacerbated with the withdrawal of funding by the former Scottish Arts Council…
Celebrate Scotland's national Bard this Burns Night
7 Jan 2013
Events around the country pay tribute to one of the nation's finest wordsmiths
It’s that time of year again – dig out your tartan troos and practise your Toast to the Lassies: it’s Burns Night. On 25 January each year, Scots and Scots at heart around the world raise a glass to the memory of our national Bard, Robert Burns, as…
Tips for performing at poetry and spoken word open mic nights
26 Nov 2012
Advice on how to make your poetry reading debut go well
Reading your own poems out loud to a room full of strangers might sound terrifying. Having done it a few times myself, I can confirm that it is. But with the number of poetry open mic nights in Scotland increasing, sometimes eclipsing their musical…
The Intoxicating Rose Garden: a performance adaptation of Persian poet Hafez
15 Nov 2012
Laurie Irvine, Jila Peacock, Michael Popper and Red Note Ensemble to perform score by Sally Beamish
Even the name of Sally Beamish’s latest score is something that sounds out of the ordinary. Delve further into what The Intoxicating Rose Garden is all about, and it’s clear that it is a new piece of work which is quite different from anything even the…
Scottish poets choose a line of poetry from a compatriot’s work
2 Nov 2012
Brian Whittingham, Liz Niven, Kevin MacNeil, Tessa Ransford and Alistair Findlay
Brian Whittingham. ‘Granda, A miss yer voice, A miss yer han’ from ‘First Gemme’ by Derek Ross. The poem recaptures a boy’s association with his grandfather who was taking him to his first football game. It is evocative of a special relationship and…
Christopher Reid - Nonsense
13 Sep 2012
Poetry collection alive with voices and stories that occasionally feels burnt out
Since winning the 2009 Costa Book Award for A Scattering, Christopher Reid hasn’t stopped to smell the roses. He’s brought out a Selected Poems and this whole new collection, Nonsense, a book split into four featuring a diverse set of voices. Where A…
Shane Koyczan: Talk-Rocker
30 Aug 2012
Canadian spoken word poet conjures tears as well as belly ache laughs
Canadian spoken-word poet Shane Koyczan combines poetry with anecdotes to create an hour of word-wending magic that conjures tears as well as belly-ache laughs. Evocatively he recalls the loneliness of growing up, the bedroom monsters of his childhood…
Luke Wright: Your New Favourite Poet
24 Aug 2012
Rock’n’roll tour de force of performance poetry
Despite the title of Luke Wright’s show this year, he doesn’t mind if he’s not quite your new favourite poet. Being second to Larkin is not, he concedes, to be sneezed at. I’m not quite sure he really occupies the same niche as the post-war poet…
Red, Like Our Room Used to Feel
20 Aug 2012
Inspirational one-on-one poetry experience with Ryan Van Winkle
Poetry readings have often suffered from small audiences. Ryan Van Winkle has worked that to his advantage: the size of the audience for Red, Like Our Room Used To Feel is precisely one. And that’s why it works. There is nothing scary or awkward…
Death Boogie
10 Aug 2012
Political hip hop poetry musical is all sound and fury
Death Boogie is a political hip hop musical, performed by a dancing poet-rapper rhyming over his own beatbox loops, a double bass player and violinist, all against a backdrop of comic-strip visuals peppered with WHOAs, BIFFs and BOOYAKASHs. Sound like a…
StAnza International Poetry Festival 2012 - round-up
23 Mar 2012
Events at St Andrews festival encourage debate across artforms
One of the two themes for this year’s StAnza International Poetry Festival in St Andrews was The Image, and on the last day of the festival this theme was pushed in very different directions to explore poetry’s relationship with classic film…
StAnza 2012 international poetry festival opens
16 Mar 2012
Opening event explores Philip Larkin's relationship with jazz
Stanza, the St Andrews-based international poetry festival, has opened its doors for the fifteenth year, bringing together poetry, art and music leavened with learning, humour and good performances. Having earned a reputation for tight adherence to…
StAnza 2012 international poetry festival highlights
28 Feb 2012
Appearances include Jackie Kay and Joe Dunthorne
It always helps a festival event to have some kind of theme in order to bring together many different strands and give the whole shebang a proper focus. Perhaps spoilt for choice, the organisers of StAnza (aka Scotland’s Poetry festival) have gone for…
Anonymous sculptor leaves literary artworks around Edinburgh
10 Feb 2012
11 sculptures made from the pages of books have been discovered
On a quiet day last March, the Scottish Poetry Library received an unexpected gift; a tree, fashioned from words and paper, blossoming from the yellowing book it rested upon. Throughout 2011, ten intricate sculptures appeared at creative organisations…
John Burnside wins 2011 TS Eliot Prize poetry prize
17 Jan 2012
Scottish poet wins second high-profile literary prize in four months
Scottish poet John Burnside has been named the winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize poetry prize just four months after being awarded the Forward prize for poetry. His 12th collection, Black Cat Bone, was announced as the winner of the £15,000 prize on…
Collection of writer George Mackay Brown donated to Orkney library
17 Jan 2012
Papers, drafts and notebooks from poet and author to be catalogued
A private collection work from Scottish author George Mackay Brown, has been permanently loaned to the Orkney Library and Archive. Coming from the home of the writer's former literary executive, Archie Bevan, in Stromness, the first instalment of around…
