Vivien Jones - new short stories reading at The Midsteeple

As part of our new Arts in the Steeple events series, local writer Vivien Jones will be reading from her new book of short stories, Perfect 10. Vivien's short stories have been widely published and broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Scotland.

The theme of Perfect 10 is the fat girls, the large females, the big girls, the big women everywhere across Britain, overlooked, mocked and despised. Their strategies for survival can be inspired, funny or desperate but survive they do. In these stories their inventiveness is celebrated, their sadness acknowledged and a challenge thrown out to each of us to examine our tendency to judge the book by its cover. Vivien's stories are quirky, unexpected and enjoyable!

Come along to hear Vivien on Friday 18 September at 1.30pm. Tickets are £2 from the Midsteeple, or 01387 253383.

Tree this weekend

Don't forget 'Tree' this weekend - Saturday 29 August at Threave Gardens, Castle Douglas. Tickets £8, includes refreshments.

'Tree' is a musical response to wood, the tree and the forest. It's a programme of new writing and music created by writers Vivien Jones and Jackie Galley, with musicians Richard Jones, Michael Hendry and Rebecca Hendry.

These are the folk who brought you 'Making Waves', and just on previous form then, 'Tree' is not to be missed!

Rab Wilson's 'Lambs' becomes September SAC Poem of the Month

Congratulations Rab! (I'm always saying that these days). Rab's McCash prize-winning poem, a powerful reflection on the Dunblane massacre, 'The Lambs', has been chosen to be Scottish Arts Council's Poem of the Month for September. The Poem of the Month is a prestigious acknowledgement, the chosen poems nominated by staff at the Scottish Poetry Library. So come September, don't forget to click on http://www.scottisharts.org.uk/1/artsinscotland/literature/features.aspx and read 'The Lambs'. After that it'll be in their archives by October, for ever and ever, another claim by Rab on posterity!

'Tree' - New Poetry and Music Inspired by Woodlands

After the success of their 2007 project 'Making Waves', poets Vivien Jones and Jackie Galley are back with a new performance 'Tree'.
Most people will know the tune of ‘Norwegian Wood’, some people will know its lyrics, a few will know what a Norway Maple tree looks like but it’s unlikely that many will have combined the lyrical structure of the song with instruments made from the tree to create a new words-and-music piece for performance. This is just one of the pieces in a new work, 'Tree', linking words and music inspired by woodlands, wood and trees that will be performed in the beautiful surroundings of NTS Threave Gardens, Castle Douglas.
This form of collaborative programme (first performed in the much admired Making Waves) which weaves music through and around the spoken word, develops a new direction in the performing of poetry by the writers, Jackie Galley and Vivien Jones and musicians Richard Jones, Michael Hendry and Becky Hendry. Poetry and music are natural companions – both rely on rhythm and lyrical power to become memorable - together they can make more than the sum of their parts. This will be a must-see performance which you can catch at 7.30pm on Saturday 29 August at Threave Gardens, Castle Douglas. Tickets are £8.00 including interval canapés and drink. Phone 0844 4932245 or e-mail: threave@nts.org.uk or e-mail vivien@freeola.com.

Don't panic if you can't get to Threave on the 29th, you can also catch performances of 'Tree' on -

Sunday 30 August 7.30 pm Sedbergh Flower Festival. St Andrew’s Church. Sedbergh Tickets : £5.00 including refreshments Sedbergh Tourist Information, Main Street Tel : 015396 20125

Saturday 3 October 4.00 pm Wigtown Book Festival. St Ninian’s Hall. Isle of Whithorn. Tickets : £6.00 including interval refreshments. Festival Box Office : Tel :01988 403222 or 402036 or online www.wigtownbookfestival.com

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Rab's 'Life Sentence' in poetry at DG One

Our new poetry season brings you none other than Rab Wilson, winner of the McCash prize for Scots poetry this year. Part of Poetry Prizewinners and their Craft, Rab will be at DG One in Dumfries on Friday 17 July. Rab's a rightly popular and entertaining performer of his own work – this will be a treat, and a chance to catch the living legacy in modern Scotland of the poetry of Robert Burns.

‘Poetry Prizewinners and their Craft’ aims to bring high quality poets to the region, and encourages audiences to enter into discussion with them, creating a rare opportunity to ask questions about sources of inspiration, drafting, form and meaning. It’s a way in for readers new to poetry, as well as regular readers and writers.

Rab Wilson’s event, which takes place at DG One at 7.30pm, will also be a launch for his new collection, ‘Life Sentence’. Tickets are available from DG One on 01387 243550.

Rab is writing some of the finest and most innovative contemporary Scottish poetry, above all because it is inspired by life, as Rab Wilson highlights in the title poem, ‘Fir life is whit we are sentenced to’.

In this new collection Rab investigates Scottish ancient legends, conflicts throughout history, and contemporary political issues; is inspired by a cultural exchange visit to Ireland; and, presents a powerful sequence containing nine sonnets entitled "Quake", based on the themes and ideas suggested to him by earthquakes. Like Burns before him, Rab writes in traditional south-west Scots, and also in standard English.

So you know where to find us

DGAA is shuffling through archive boxes and well, boxes this week, in preparation for moving to the Midsteeple in central Dumfries.

We're very excited about the opportunity to create a physical arts and culture hub for Dumfries, and look forward to welcoming you into the Midsteeple to find out what's on.

The first floor of the Midsteeple will become an exhibition space, sometimes a small performance space (could be well suited to readings!), and opens on Sat 11 July with a special Homecoming exhibition: Around the World with Robert Burns.

The Midsteeple has been made fully accessible, and will also be housing the Dumfries and Galloway Coalition of Disabled People, staffed by John Dowson and Claire Charkow.

Jen Hadfield opens Poetry Prizewinners mini season

Special poetry events in July! DGAA will be hosting a mini season 'Poetry Prizewinners and their Craft' this July, the first event being none other than Jen Hadfield, winner of this year's T S Eliot prize. Jen will be reading from 'Nigh-No-Place', her winning collection, at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre on Wednesday 1 July at 7.30pm. Tickets are available from the RBCFT, £5.50/£4.10 concession, tel 01387 264808.
Next up on Friday 17 July at 7.30pm will be Rab Wilson, winner of the McCash prize. Rab, a very popular reader of his own work, will be launching his new collection 'Life Sentence' in Bar DG at DG One in Dumfries.
And on Monday 27 July we welcome Douglas Dunn, one of Scotland's foremost living poets, who will be reading his work in RBCFT. A further treat for writers is that Douglas has agreed to run a Masterclass on Tuesday 28 July - do book early for what will be a lively and stimulating masterclass on the craft of poetry. If you're looking for advice on developing your own skills, here’s a chance to get some helpful feedback from one of the foremost practioners of the craft.

Please submit any poems you wish to have considered by Friday 17 July to davie@dgaa,net. Douglas will then make a selection from the submitted poems to provide feedback in the masterclass.

Book Launch at Thomas Tosh for JoAnne McKay

Penpont poet JoAnne McKay is about to launch her first poetry pamphlet, 'The Fat Plant', whose quality, if you ever doubted it (which you shouldn't have) is vouched for in an introduction by Hugh McMillan. Hugh's verdict: 'The Fat Plant is a skilful collection. The poems are taut, laced with black humour and pack a real punch'.

I have to add, I took a copy home for the weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The title poem is a real barnstormer. It took me back to days living in a town clouded with the reek of a glue factory, and earlier still, to the insidious pressure of priests and nuns on childhood. These are sharp, distinctive poems. Don't miss out!

JoAnne will be reading from 'The Fat Plant' at 3pm, Thomas Tosh in Thornhill on Sunday 12 July, and there will be drinks and canapes! You are more than welcome.

You can also get hold of a copy by e-mailing JoAnne at Titusmckay@aol.com and then sending, as she puts it, a crisp fiver! Or a cheque for £5. Don't miss further entertainment at JoAnne's blog - http://titusthedog.blogspot.com/

Jen Hadfield TS Eliot Prizewinner reads in Dumfries

Something very special on Wednesday 1 July at 7.30pm!
Jen Hadfield, 'surprise' winner (but not to us!) of the T S Eliot Prize this spring, is making a special stop-off on her tour to read in Dumfries as part of DGAA's short season of Poetry Prizewinners in July. Poetry Prizewinners will also include winner of the McCash Prize this year, Rab Wilson.

Tickets available from DGAA on 01387 253383.
‘Nigh-No-Place’, her winning collection, was described by the former Poet Laureate Andrew Motion as “a revelation; jaunty, energetic, iconoclastic - even devilmay- care”. Jen's poems evoke the natural landscape through her witty and playful use of sound.

Read this short poem, and then book your ticket!

A835

In sun the moor turns harlequin and whisky sours.
The road runs down to single-track.
In rain, headlamps bloom chrysanthemum
but she sleeps on, sways
with lax complexity of bladderwrack.

Congratulations Hughs Bryden and McMillan!

The 2009 winner of the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award was indeed Postcards from the Hedge by Hugh McMillan, published in Dumfries by Roncadora Press. The winners received the Callum Macdonald Quaich at a ceremony held on Friday 29th May at the National Library of Scotland.

Well done, and very, very well deserved. I love this book.

And it's good to know you did your bit for Scotland's economy in terms of umbrella sales... (though this summer will be different).