Rab Wilson takes on Open Stage!

There will be an Open Stage on Wednesday 26 November - we nearly missed one - but oor Rab has stepped up to fill the breach!

So come along with your songs and/or your poems to the Birkhill Hotel in Dumfries! The doors open at 7pm for you to book your slot, and performances begin at 7.30pm.

Entry on the door £3.

Any queries contact Rab on 01387 253383 or rab@dgaa.net

Huge Congratualtions to Rab Wilson who has just won the McCash Scots Poetry Competition.

Rab said of his success: "It makes me feel three inches taller."
Below is the winning poem, "Lambs".

Lesley Duncan writing in the Herald saidof the poem;"It deals in an emotionally powerful way with that most disturbing of themes, the slaughter of innocents."

The Lambs.

Weeks eftir the atrocity itsel,
When aince the service in the kirk hud skailed,
An left us ‘not another tear to shed’,
Ah cycled oot alang ma usual route.
Criss-crossin thon twa brigs that span the Nith,
A snell wuin blawin throu skeletal trees,
Whiles tryin tae dispel thon ugsome grue,
That lately sae wis etcht upo ma mind;
The dreid o parents rushin tae the schuil,
Thae anguisht cries at the gymnasium,
O thaim whaes lives hud juist bin torn apairt.
Thon lass at wark, wha tell’t us her seeck joke –
“No!” ah said, ma haund raised tae admonish –
Then walkt awa. Ah couldnae bear tae hear.
The day wis cauld, sae cauld, air burnt ma lungs,
Grey clood hapt ower the taps o snaw cled hills.
Approachin nou the straicht afore South Mains,
When, faur aheid, some muivement claucht ma een,
And suin, abune the wuin, ah heard the skirl
That weirdlie won oot frae the distant flock,
Relentlessly advancin doun the road.
Ahint thaim cam a shepherd, oan his quad,
An, dairtin at their heels, his collie dowg.
Their skraich grew, exponential decibels,
Until their bleatin fillt the air, lik screams.
Lambs brent new separated frae their dams,
Descendin frae heich pastures they hud shared.
Transfixed, ah haltit, ruitit tae the spot,
A grim realisation at aince dawned,
Whilst roond me thrangt a woolly, writhin mass,
A dowie, sad, heirt-rendin leevin sea,
That seemt tae tak eternity tae pass,
Then, like some eldritch dwam, wis gane at last.
Ah noddit tae the Herd, but couldnae speik,
Then cycled oan, past buddin catkin trees,
Pale snawdraps, wanin nou, wha hung their heids,
An tried tae fuil masel wi knotless lees;
It wis the drivin sleet that blear’t ma ee.

Postcards From The Hedge

Postcards from the Hedge

Penpont based writer Hugh McMillan is launching his new book of poetry this month. The collection, ‘Postcards from the Hedge’ is a limited edition Artist’s Book designed and illustrated by Hugh Bryden. The limited edition collection is based on a frenetic tour of Scotland and comes along with a specially designed tour map! A poster version of the map is also available with the poems printed on the back. The book is to be launched at Gracefield Arts Centre on Friday September 19th at 7.00pm and in Thomas Tosh, Thornhill on Saturday September 6th at 3.30pm.

Hugh McMillan is a well published, prize winning poet with five full collections of poetry to his credit. He has been anthologised widely in Scotland and abroad and has been awarded several Scottish Arts Council Bursaries, including one last year to help write the present collection.

Hugh Bryden took early retirement after 30 years as an Art Teacher in August 2005 to concentrate on Printmaking and Artists Books. He was a regular exhibitor in national and international exhibitions and was involved for a number of years in the gallery business in Dumfries. In 2005 he founded Roncadora Press to allow him to concentrate on personalised artist’s books.

“A desire to get at the truth is at the heart of every genuine writer’s work. I see this genuineness everywhere in McMillan’s writing, even at its most light hearted…he is a born writer.” Gerry Cambridge



My Feet

Tuesday: the birds softly bugle
end of day. I look at my feet,
bare and wriggling on hot concrete.
They are pitted, spurred, I see,
cracked as white wood.
They are at the business end, my feet,
still dodging, chasing lost causes,
up in the night silent as slippers.
To my head, at the other extreme,
they are mere beasts of burden.
Though they work for the same body
there is no camaraderie there,
no joint sense of mission.
My feet think my head’s had it easy,
up there in the fresh air all these years,
talking crap. Where would it be without
them to do the donkey work?
No fancy products wasted on their upkeep,
just soap and water, cheap socks.
I think if my feet ever met my head again
they’d give it a good kicking.

Not only have Hugh Bryden and Hugh MCmillian had poems published in the Herald but another Dumfries and galloway Poet, Mary Smith had her poem published in the Herald that very same week. Well done Mary, in fact well done all of you! What an incredibly creative place Galloway is.

Lost in translation

Once, people spoke their maps.
Everyone knew where lay
rough moorland of the perilous region,
the hill of the eagle,
mountain of awesome grandeur.

Once, people were wary of the crag
of the storm-swept range, made pilgrimage to
the hill of the memorial pile or that other,
above the hollow of the warrior’s tomb

Once, people spoke their land
and what it meant to them,
before strangers, with inflexible tongues,
bringing pen and parchment, plotted

names which whisper only an echo
of what they once were:
Palgowan, Benyellery, Mulwharchar,
Craigmasheenie, Pinbreck,
Corrafeckloch.

The "Project Ten" initiative from Wigtown have just announced their 2008-9 Programme. Please see below

Their 2008-2009 programme kicks off next week on Saturday 13th September with "The Green Event", a timely reminder of the benefits of recycling. D&G Council's Waste Management Department will be putting on their Composting display with information on The Three R's - Reduce, Recycle, Re-use.

The group is delighted to have secured the appearance of author Mandy Haggith ('The Last Bear') to run a poetry workshop in the afternoon while the evening session is a reading and discussion of environmental issues based around Mandy's book 'Paper Trails' with Chris Ballance compering the evening.

The Wigtown Youth Forum is also getting involved by helping to build another Book Maze, using up old books which would otherwise be destined for the skip.

Saturday 25th October sees a double event within the "Project Ten" initiative. Come to Byre Books between 2-4 pm for "Spooks, Kooks and Galloway Ghosts" where story-teller Renita Boyle will be on hand to help you record or write your memories - Daleks? Snakes under the bed? Things that go bump in the night? What were you afraid of when you were ten? Then join the group again at 6.30pm for spooky tales and kooky treats. Bring a lantern with you! All welcome.

On the same evening, Anne Dunsford will be leading The Wigtown Scribblers in a writing event at The Swallow Theatre with a "Landscapes and Seasons"
theme.

November's event will encompass a Human Rights and Amnesty International theme and, into the New Year, Renita Boyle will lead another story-telling event under a "Kith & Kin and Glory Stories" banner.

As befits the month celebrating St Valentine, the February event will have a "Love" theme, "Inspirational Women" will be feted in March to coincide with International Women's Day and "Wild Geese" will be the topic for April 2009.

Further information on these later events will be published at a later date.

Mimi Khalvati's workshop is on Tuesday 2nd September!

Whoops! The Poetry Doubles brochure has a missing date!

Please note that the Writing Workshop led by Mimi Khalvati is due to take place between 10am and 12 noon on Tuesday 2 September, the morning after her reading at Poetry Doubles. The workshop is in the Drama Studio at Glasgow University Crichton Campus. This promises to be a really great workshop, comes highly recommended. Please just ring Catriona on 01387 253383 if you'd like to come along - still a few places left.


Please note too, that Jean Sprackland's Writing Workshop takes place on the same day as her Poetry Doubles reading, Monday 8 September between 2pm and 4pm at Gracefield Arts Centre.

Published in the Herald!

Dumfries & Galloway poets have been filling the Poem of the Day slot at The Herald this month.
First up was Hugh Bryden on 30 July, with his poem, Shaving.

Shaving

Its ma faither in the mornin’ greets mi
Razor in hand wi a smile he meets mi
An ah mind whin as a wee laddie there
Ah watcht him scrapin awa the hair
Mirrored the faces that he pu’ed
Learnt the skin-taut flexin move
Longed fur the day whin ah would
Shave masel jist as smooth


Ma Faither watcht me draw first blood
cutting the ties o’ childhood
Noo it’s the act that ties us the gither
Faither an’son reflecting each ither
in the actions of a daily chore
that each day draws us present an’past
closer,tighter - and more-
tae be the same face in the glass.

Then came Mary Smith, whose poem Lost in Translation, was published on 31 July:

Lost in translation
Once, people spoke their maps.
Everyone knew where lay
rough moorland of the perilous region,
the hill of the eagle,
mountain of awesome grandeur.

Once, people were wary of the crag
of the storm-swept range, made pilgrimage to
the hill of the memorial pile or that other,
above the hollow of the warrior’s tomb

Once, people spoke their land
and what it meant to them,
before strangers, with inflexible tongues,
bringing pen and parchment, plotted

names which whisper only an echo
of what they once were:
Palgowan, Benyellery, Mulwharchar,
Craigmasheenie, Pinbreck,
Corrafeckloch.

And then on 12 August Hugh Macmillan's poem Lost Garden:

The Lost Garden

There’s a garden in the heart of the school,
lost under the lidless gaze
of a hundred empty windows.
A quadrangle it would have been,
‘the Cherry Tree Quadrangle’,
now two walls are lined by skips,
broken brick, benches rotting in the sun.
Just here though, years of tinkering by children
too green fingered for exams have spawned
a thumbnail patch of feral orient.
In a daze of heat, palms and fronds
loll from fat pots. Trellis dry as tinder sags
with acer and bamboo. Ivy tongues stone
and the little plaques remembering the dead.
Below bleeding willow, a map of the world
fades, seismic weeds splitting continents
and seas, and cherry blossom is everywhere,
like the tender hint of wasted time.

Congratulations all!

Stop Press; New Date for Lucy Burnett

Lucy Burnett will now be reading with Robert Crawford and John Burns at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre on 25th August at 7pm.

Could I remind everyone that Robert Crawford is doing another event at 2pm at the Drama studio at Crichton Campus on the 25th August where he will be talking about and reading from "Scotlands Books". Tickets only £3.
For tickets please phone Catriona on 01387 253383 or email catriona@dgaa.net

URGENT! Roy Fisher Poetry Doubles Cancelled

Please note -

We regret to tell you that Monday 18 August Poetry Doubles event is cancelled. Roy Fisher is unwell.

However, we are expecting to arrange for Lucy Burnett to take part in one of the forthcoming Poetry Doubles evenings. We will keep you updated.

We apologise for any inconvenience and disappointment.

Andy Forster nominated for Forward Prize!!!

Andy Forster, Literature Development Officer for Dumfries & Galloway until this spring, and now working for the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere has been nominated for a prestigious prize following the publication of his first collection of poems. Andy's book "Fear of Thunder" has been shortlisted for a Forward Prize for the Best First Collection of poetry. It was published late last year by Flambard Press.
Andy now organises the Wordsworth Trust's programme of poetry readings that brings some of the best poets to Cumbria to read their work. He has also set up a poetry workshop and organises occasional outdoor poetry readings for visitors to Dove Cottage, including reading his own work. Michael McGregor, Director of the Trust said: "We are all delighted to see Andrew's talents as a poet recognised. The trust has a long tradition of encouraging an interest in poetry and nurturing new talents, and it is great to see that Andrew is achieving this level of recognition for his work."

Andy's poems have appeared in literary magazines and anthologies since 1993. He has also written essays and reviews of poetry and was awarded Scottish Arts Council writer's bursaries in 1998 and 2002. In 2001 he was Writer in Residence for North Lanarkshire council museum department, which lead to editing the anthology Imagining Industry. He is currently completing the MA in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University. Describing his work in "Fear of Thunder", Andrew said: "The poems in the collection look at what makes us human: The father who can't escape a childhood fear; the airforce pilot who refuses to fly; Elizabeth Bishop taking stock in North Carolina. The wide range of characters speak to us of our common experience."

Many congratulations Andy, from all your supporters in Dumfries & Galloway!

Short Short Story Competition

Here is another interesting opportunity for all you writers out there:

Short Short Story competition
In association with BBC Radio Scotland's Book Café
Wigtown Book Festival 10th anniversary short story competition “On the Edge”
To celebrate its 10th birthday, the Stena Line Wigtown Book Festival is launching a “short short” story competition in conjunction with BBC Radio Scotland’s Book Café. Each “short short” story must be 100 words or less, though they can be as short as desired. These “short short” stories can be playful or serious but the important thing is that they should have a real narrative.
The theme of the competition, “On the Edge”, recognises Wigtown’s geographical location: on the edge of Scotland, in sight of the Lake District on a good day and jutting out into the Irish Sea.
But it’s also intended to mark the way that the creative life of Scotland’s rural places – areas that not so long ago might have been regarded as peripheral to the nation’s mainstream arts scene – now invigorates and enriches the whole national culture. From Orkney to Wigtown, the people “on the edge” have as much to give as those in the Central Belt. Entrants are free to interpret the title however they like, but might like to bear the above in mind.
Why short short stories?Because although life is pleasurably slower in Wigtown we recognise that most people outside th area don't have as much time as us!
What might entrants read for inspiration?The “short short” story, sometimes called “flash fiction” or “mini-fiction” has a long history. Some of the more recent books showcasing the form include Dan Rhodes’ Anthropology, Dave Eggers’ Short Short Stories, and “New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories from America and Beyond” which has stories by Yann Martel, Sam Shepard, and Tobias Wolff among many others.
1st Prize - Win a free pair of tickets to every event at the 2009 festival
Every entrant will also receive a free pair of tickets to an event of their choice at this year's festival *
(*see conditions below)
The practical stuff
Entries must be made by email only to shorts@wigtownbookfestival.com. Entries must include name, address and telephone number. Wigtown Festival Company will endeavour to acknowledge all entries but cannot be held responsible for any that go astray.
Entries must be in by Monday 15 August, 12 noon. The winner will be announced on the BBC Book Café programme, which will broadcast from the Wigtown Festival on Monday 29 September.
The winner will receive a pass that gives free entry to all festival events (subject to availability) in 2009. There will also be one runner-up prize offering a free pair of tickets to all events on one of the two festival weekends in 2009. The winning story may be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland’s The Book Café if of appropriate quality.
A selection of the best stories will be put on the Wigtown Festival website (www.wigtownbookfestival.com). Copyright will remain with the author but entry allows the Festival reasonable use of all material submitted.
We are also offering a free pair of tickets to an event at 2008’s festival (subject to availability) to every person who enters. Only one pair of tickets per individual, not transferable. Please mark on your entry which event you would like to attend and whether you require one or two tickets.
Judging will be done by the festival’s programmer, in conjunction with Stuart Kelly, literary editor of Scotland on Sunday, and the poet Tom Pow.
The judges’ decisions – including regarding eligibility for free tickets – are final and no correspondence will be entered into. For any queries please email.
For more information go to http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/short-story-competition.asp

WRITING OPPORTUNITIES :

The McCash Award : especially for those writing in Scots. Poems should not be more than 30 lines long and can be in any form, from sonnets to free verse. And we will welcome the widest interpretation of our theme, from the romantic to the satirical, the serious to the comic. We do trust, however, that contestants will avoid jingoistic responses or anti-English diatribes! Poets can send up to three entries. They should be submitted by Deadline August 1.
If you are in based in Scotland or elsewhere in the UKplease send your entries to :Lesley Duncan, The Herald , 200 Renfield Street ,Glasgow, G2 3QBon A4 paper with your name, address and contact details on the reverse. Entries from abroad can be emailed to lesley.duncan@theherald.co.uk. Please include your overseas address and contact phone number with international code.
The judges are headed by Edwin Morgan, Scotland’s national poet. The winners will be announced in early autumn and it is planned to deposit the competition poems in the National Library of Scotland as an insight into the spirit of Scotland at this fascinating juncture in the country’s history. Here’s to lots of inspiration and entries!

New Writing Scotland 27 – Submissions are invited for this prestigious anthology to be published in 2009. All forms of writing are invited (not novels or full-length plays) Work must been unpublished nor accepted for publication and may be in any of the languages of Scotland. Prose : max C 3,500 w and not more than four poems.
Full details from http://www.asls.org.uk/ Send submissions to :
New Writing Scotland ASLS, 7 University Gardens, University of Glasgow, Glasgow
G12 8QH Deadline : 30th September 2008

The Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition 2008 is now open for entries!

This is the perfect opportunity to have your poems read by three of today's leading poets, stand the chance to win £5000, and see your name added to the impressive list of past winners, including Michael Hulse, Carol Ann Duffy, Jo Shapcott, Ruth Padel, Ian Duhig and our current winner Sinéad Morrissey.
Now in its 31st year, the Poetry Society's National Poetry Competition is one of the leading poetry prizes. It attracts entries from Nantwich to Nairobi and offers to anyone who enters the opportunity to discover their own potential as a writer. Whether you are an established poet or a budding writer, winning often provides that essential spur to take your writing further.Details from http://www.poetrysociety.org/ deadline : Friday 31st October

Torbay Open Poetry Competition 2008
Poems up to 50 lines are invited for this competition. Entry fee £4.00 each or three for £10.00. Details from The Administrator,
c/o 6 The Mount, Brixham, Devon TQ5 8QY
Deadline : 15th August

Wells Literature Festival 2008 : There are both poetry and short story competitions to enter. Details from www.somersite.co.uk/wellsfest.htm Deadline : Tuesday 31st July 2008

Major collaboration between BBC Radio Scotland and Scottish Book Trust

This is an email I received that I thought might interest writers in the area. It sounds like a really interesting project.

Hello

I am writing to let you know about Days Like This, an exciting nationwide project run by Scottish Book Trust and BBC Radio Scotland, that may be of interest to you, your staff and other organisations you work with!

Days Like This will give people across Scotland the chance to be a part of the nation’s history by writing about a special day in their life which made a strong impression on them. The project aims to gather thousands of extraordinary tales, from born-and-bread Scots to newly-arrived immigrants, from Moffat to Orkney.

To take part in Days Like This, all people need to do is write about a day in their life that was a bit extraordinary: It could be the day they didn’t get married, or the day they got lost in a supermarket. It could be a childhood memory or something that happened yesterday. If the story is true and centres on a single day, we want to hear it!

Author Irvine Welsh, broadcaster Hardeep Singh Kohli, mountaineer Jamie Andrew, actress Siobhan Redmond, percussionist Evelyn Glennie and Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble have joined the project as celebrity curators, writing and recording their own story as an inspiration for people to do the same.

Anyone can send a story - content is what matters! Stories should be no longer than 1,000 words and can be about anything as long as it’s true! All stories will appear on the BBC website for everyone to read. The celebrity panel will choose their favourites to be recorded and discussed in a series of radio programmes and published in a book in 2009. The deadline is: 1 November 2008

For more details (including the curators’ stories), click on www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/dayslikethis

For the project leaflet, click on http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/files/days%20like%20this%20low.pdf (smaller file for viewing) OR go to http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/files/dayslikethis.pdf (larger file for printing).

With best wishes

Clare

Congratulations to Jean!

Jean Atkin, Press Officer for DGAA and a talented poet in her own right has just won Dartington Hall Ways With Words poetry competition with a very charming poem called 'Coppice' .
Congratualtions Jean, a very worthy winner.

Coppice

How the swifts’ wings bisected the blue
above the coppice wood -
so sudden shade was first a lack
of speed and height and flight.
Our pupils dilated, our skins cooled.
Our ankles were feathered in dog’s mercury.
I bent, touched sheets of stitchwort, violet, woodruff,
how they were shot with indigo, the warp and weft of bluebell.

How you relaxed, and smiled, and with your finger
smoothed the slowly easing corrugation that
was greening on a hazel leaf,
and told me how coppice cut
and grown and cut in every generation,
can live forever.

Jean Atkin

Welcome to Catriona!

You may well have met her because she's been much out and about the region already, but I'd like to put Catriona Taylor firmly onto writer in the storm blog.
Catriona joined DGAA as Literature Development Officer just a month ago. Her working life began in Theatre in Education and then she shifted focus to become a director working for theatres including; Colway Theatre Trust, Royal Court Theatre, London, Lyceum Edinburgh and Tag Theatre Company Glasgow.
After having two children she decided to take a career break as theatre and small children were not compatible. She set up a literary business with her husband Stuart Delves. This was Bloom Reading Holidays which ran reading weeks hosted by professional writers. It was a great experience and one that was enjoyed by many people but unfortunately not one that any money could be made from!
In 2001 she realised a long-held ambition to go to Edinburgh College of Art to study drawing and painting. Since graduating she has exhibited in the Richard Demarco Skateraw Festival Exhbition and work is now held in the Richard Demarco Archive.
Catriona has had work selected for and exhibited in “Reveal – Emerging Artist” Exhbition at Edinburgh printmakers Gallery, New Faces” Leith Gallery, Edinburgh. She had a very successful Artist’s Residency at the National Library of Scotland which culminated in an exhibition “Words Out of Place” inspired by texts and writers’ manuscripts held in the Library, described by Stuart Kelly in Scotland on Sunday as a ”poignant and sotte voce display with more than a hint of Iain Hamilton Finlay about it.”
Catriona has also worked for Rowantree Theatre Company as Director & Designer on “The Journey of Jeannie Deans”, an adaptation of The Heart of Midlothian by Judy Steel
Workshop production March 2007/ Edinburgh Fringe 2007/ Borders Tour Autumn
2007.
Most recently Catriona directed "Hidden Worlds" by Stuart Delves at Oran Mor in February 2008.

Short Story Recommendations

At our short story evening, Sara Maitland and Linda Cracknell both gave recommendations of their favourite short stories. Please see below.

If you have a favourite short story or short story writer please send your recommendations to me at catriona@dgaa.net and I will put them up on the blog as part of this list. It would be fun and interesting to create a list of lots of stories for everyone to share.

“Blue Juice” by Margo Lanigan
“Collected Short Stories” by GracePaley
“In the Blue Fields” by Claire Keegan

Linda recommended: "Writing Short Stories” by Ailsa Cox and anything by either Janice Galloway or A.L. Kennedy.

Here is our first recommendation! Thank you Jim.

I saw on the 'Writer in the Storm' blog you were looking for short story recommendations and I thought I'd suggest 'Death of a Spinster' by William McIlvanney from his collection 'Walking Wounded', a wonderful piece of concise writing.

Jim Murdoch
Linda Cracknell has added a non- Scottish reccommendation - Collected short Stories by Lorrie Moore.
Shug has reccomended "Moveable Feast" by Ernest Hemmingway
titus reccomends: " A Visit from the Footbinder" by Emily Prager
Labels: Short Story Recommendations

Short Story Evening Event Review

The Robert Burns Centre saw the welcome return last week of two well-kent writers who took part in a Short Story Evening. Linda Cracknell, who has been involved with the CREATE Team doing workshops in Dumfries and Galloway schools, and Sara Maitland, Galloway’s own homegrown writer who grew up near Dalbeattie. Sara recently returned to live in Galloway with her husband who is a dairy farmer.

Sara and Linda are also well- known to each other as Sara was Linda’s tutor when as a young writer she embarked on an Open College of Arts course. They also worked together again on a British Council led project, pairing established British writers with young African writers being mentored and tutored through email.

The Short Story Evening was extremely lively and enjoyable, chaired with great skill and dexterity by local writer and lecturer Tom Pow.

The writers began by reading from their new collections of short stories, The Searching Glance by Linda Cracknell and Far North and Other Stories by Sara Maitland. One of Sara’s stories has been turned into a major film starring Sean Bean. Sara noted that publishers found it prudent to advertise such facts on the front covers of their books!

Each writer demonstrated a very different style; Linda’s story – And the Sky was Full of Crows was a densely crafted love story with tragic implications full of colourful, visual imagery. One phrase that stuck in my mind was “the glamorous colours of pheasants”. She explores themes of loss and abandonment and laughingly described the stories as her misery stories and said that she found it hard to get away from these themes.

Sara’s story “Swans” is rooted in the Galloway landscape. In it she explores the theme of silence using the framework of the traditional fairy tale Seven Swans.
Tom asked her why she used this tradition and she replied candidly that as she is very lazy and these stories had persisted for two thousand years in many cultures, it meant she knew they worked and therefore didn’t have to come up with a new one.

Tom Pow commented that Linda’s influences are from a naturalistic/Chekhovian line, but that Sara uses sources of fairytales and myths and her work is derived from the oral tradition. There was no shortage of questions from an interested and enthusiastic audience, but Sara summed up the short story most succinctly:
“ a short story is a poem that doesn’t have to scan and a novel that doesn’t have to bother with the characters’ psychology.”

The evening finished with recommendations of the panel’s favourite short stories, and included titles by Janice Galloway, A.L. Kennedy, Ailsa Cox, Grace Paley and Clare Keegan.

Reviewed by Catriona Taylor

Rab Wilson, Alexander Anderson & Kirkconnel

On Tuesday night Rab Wilson and I went to Kirkconnel for the celebration of the opening of the specially commissioned St Conal’s Square Public Art Project
Artists Jim Buchanan and Emma Varley had been commissioned, through DGAA and Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership to do a landscaping project for a new square of houses.
For an evening that was supposed to be a to celebrate a visual arts project it became remarkably literary one.
The two artists Jim and Emma through their research had uncovered Kirkconnel’s own forgotten poet – Alexander Anderson and had incorporated quotes from his poetry as text pieces for the walls.
Rab had been asked to give an address about Anderson at the event.

He gave a succinct and illuminating account of Anderson’s unusual life. Rab told us with great warmth that Anderson was born in the 19th Century in Kirkconnel and had become a Railway Surfaceman on leaving school. A Surfaceman was someone who maintains the railway tracks and track bed.

He was a self taught poet, using all his spare time to read the classics and poets such as Shelley and Keats. He also learnt enough of European languages so that he could read their masterpieces, such as Racine in their own languages.
In 1870 he began to submit poems to the Peoples Friend. His first collection was published in 1873, “A Song of Labour and Other Poems. He also published collections entitled “Songs of the Rails 1878, and “Ballads and sonnets” in 1879.

In 1880 he left Kirkconnel to become Assistant Librarian at Edinburgh University, finally to become Chief Librarian, a post he held until his death in 1909. After becoming the Librarian he didn’t publish any more collections but he did continue to submit poems to newspapers and journals.

Rab said that he had a unique quality in his poetry that reminded anyone from the area of home. He also said that Anderson never forgot Kirkconnel or his deep love of it. He told a lovely anecdote of an eminent Edinburgh gentleman bumping into Anderson one day in Edinburgh and was surprised to see him not wearing his Library Frock coat. Indeed Anderson was wearing an old tweed jacket and a bonnet and his face was wreathed in smiles, the eminent gentleman was slightly startled and asked him how he was, Anderson relied with a beaming smile and said “I’m going on my holidays, I’m going to Kirkconnel.
Apparently when he talked about Kirkconnel it was like Leonardo talking about painting.

Rab said that it was time to reappraise Anderson’s place in Scottish literature and said that part of Anderson’s obscurity was because DC Thompson had held the copyright to his literary estate and they had never been keen to let anyone tamper with the work. As the work is now out of copyright, the time is right to bring Kirkconnel's poet out of the literary shadows.

Here is a poem by Alexander Anderson about the problems - and the pleasures - of trying to get lively children to settle down to sleep.

Cuddle Doon

The bairnies cuddle doon at nicht
Wi muckle faught and din.
"Oh try an' sleep, ye waukrife rogues,
Your faither's comin' in."
They niver heed a word I speak,
I try tae gie a froon,
But aye I hap' them up an' cry
"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

Wee Jamie wi' the curly heid,
He aye sleeps next the wa'
Bangs up and cries, "I want a piece!"
The rascal starts them a'.
I rin and fetch them pieces, drinks,
They stop a wee the soun',
Then draw the blankets up an' cry,
"Noo, weanies, cuddle doon."

But ere five minutes gang, wee Rab
Cries oot frae neath the claes,
"Mither, mak' Tam gie ower at aince,
He's kittlin' wi' his taes."
The mischief in that Tam for tricks,
He'd bother half the toon,
But aye I hap them up an' cry,
"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

At length they hear their faither's fit
An' as he steeks the door,
They turn their faces tae the wa'
An Tam pretends tae snore.
"Hae a' the weans been gude?" he asks,
As he pits aff his shoon.
"The bairnies, John, are in their beds
An' lang since cuddled doon!"

An' just afore we bed oorsel's
We look at oor wee lambs,
Tam has his airm roun' wee Rab's neck
An Rab his airm roun' Tam's.
I lift wee Jamie up the bed
An as I straik each croon,
I whisper till my heart fills up:
"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

The bairnies cuddle doon at nicht
Wi' mirth that's dear tae me.
But soon the big warl's cark an' care
Will quiten doon their glee.
Yet come what will to ilka ane,
May He who rules aboon,
Aye whisper, though their pows be bald:
"Oh, bairnies, cuddle doon!"

Les Murray opens Poetry Doubles Monday 9 June

Internationally acclaimed Australian poet Les Murray will open the 2008 Poetry Doubles series on Monday 9 June at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre at 7pm. He will be reading with Nicola Black, who will sing her musical settings of McDiarmid poems. Tickets for this exceptional event are £7 (£5 concession) available from Catriona Taylor at Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association on 01387 253383, or email catriona@dgaa.net.

Les, who was born in 1938, grew up on a dairy farm at Bunyah on the north coast of New South Wales. Since 1971 he has made poetry his full time career, and, as he puts it, he was the first Australian poet to achieve international acclaim without expatriation. Carcanet publish his Collected Poems as well as his individual collections, including Subhuman Redneck Poems (1966, awarded the T S Eliot prize) and his essays and prose writings in The Paperback Tree (1992). His verse novel Fredy Neptune appeared in 1998 and in 2004 won the Mondello Prize in Italy and a major German award at the Leipzig Book Fair. Les Murray received the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 1999. His most recent publication is The Biplane Houses (2006).

“There is no poetry in the English language now so rooted in its sacredness, so broad-leafed in its pleasures, and yet so intimate and so conversational.”
Derek Walcott, The New Republic

“It would be as myopic to regard Mr Murray as an Australian poet as to call Yeats an Irishman. He is, quite simply, the one by whom the language lives.”
Joseph Brodsky

New Opportunity for Applied Artists and Creative Writers

New Opportunity for Applied Artists and Creative Writers

The pupils, staff and parents are keen to design a new environment that will incorporate words and be an active learning space for young people. Themes will focus on the natural environment to complement work already undertaken in the school grounds.
Shawhead Primary School Garden Development 2008
Supported by CREATE (Creative Education Arts Team) & Awards for All


Artist
We are looking to appoint an artist with experience of working in a school/community context to develop an outside space within an existing garden as a place for learning and play. The materials to be used are undefined but the whole design process must be made transparent for the pupils so that they learn in and through the arts practice. The finished ‘built’ environment may or may not involve pupil participation at all stages.

Writer
We are looking to appoint a writer to extend vocabulary and confidence in pupils through the creation of new writing. The writer will work with pupils in the classroom and non classroom environment. The pupils would like their work (words) incorporated into the landscape therefore the writer will need to work in conjunction with the artist on the site development. We will look at prose and poetry.

The artist and writer will be required to work with the pupils to produce a blog of the commissioning process in the school. CREATE will provide training for the school and the artist/writer on how to do this.

The Clients and the School
The successful candidates will ultimately be working with 26 pupils from 19 families and 3-4 staff members and representatives from the village. The project is being led by the young people of the school with guidance from teaching staff, parents and other partners as identified by them.

The Spaces
Shawhead Primary School located just outside Dumfries has a well developed garden area. “At the rear of the school we have a large playing field, and between this the school building is the garden area. The layout of the garden is basically set out in 4 circles. We would like to develop the areas marked 1 predominately and 2 if possible by combining the work of the visual artist and creative writer.

Area 1. The area will be used for sitting, relaxing, talking and learning and at times may be used as outside performance space. We would like the boundary/wall to incorporate some new writing (text) that will be produced by working with the writer. We would like it to have interactive elements related to words and our writing. Ideas and suggestions
already identified by the pupil clients include; lift the flap for words, words on a rotating spindle, sliding words, pull a lever for words, etc. The space would require some ‘architecture’ in terms of seating, platform or covered space.

Area 2. We also have a second area which is in the form of an inverted snail. It has worn away over the years but we wish to preserve this and add to this with our current commission. This is currently a play area and it would be kept as a play/relaxation area”.

The Timeframe
Shawhead Primary school wish to start the development this term in June-July however as this will depend on the selected artist and writer’s availability the programme of work is open to negotiation and will be discussed as part of the interview process.

Fees
The selected artist and writer will be paid a daily fee of £250 and will have 10 planning/contact days working with the clients.
(this will include some early evening work or weekends)
In addition a budget for the following has been identified:
Materials for ‘built’ environment £6,000
A publication for new writing £1,400 (design and print)
Travel for pupil visits £700

Submission Details
Please send a CV or professional profile
Slides of work or copies of previous publications
Cover letter of why you would wish to work with Shawhead
Please send all information marked for the attention of
Pupil Interview Panel , Shawhead Primary School,
Shawhead, Dumfries, DG2 9SL
Deadline Date: 28 May 2008 – you will be notified on this date if you are to be called for interview.

IMPORTANT please note interviews will be held on:
Friday 30th May 2008

For more informal information please contact Sybil Williamson (Headteacher) on 01387 730240 or Vanessa Morris, Creative Education Arts Team, CREATE on 01387 720774

New Radio Play from Jules!

An eerie tale of childhood possession and the dangers of playing with marbles...
Look out tomorrow for Jules Horne's latest radio play, "Small Blue Thing" on BBC Radio Scotland, Wednesday 14th May, 1130am.

An eerie tale of childhood possession and the dangers of playing with marbles...



Directed by Rosie Kellagher, produced by Turan Ali for Bona Broadcasting Ltd.
Stella ...... Clare Waugh
Rob/Optician/Father ...... James Mackenzie
Mother ...... Molly Innes
Young Stella ...... Isla Cowan
Studio Manager ...... Stuart Hamilton
Studio FX ...... Doreen Birkeland

Vivien Jones has Herald Poem of the Day!

Congratulations Vivien!



Hare

It was a sloping field
tipped towards the sea,
the breeze blew
along the ground,
cooling my bare legs.

My foot was nearly down,
poised at the point where
weight shifts forward.
I may have heard
its indrawn breath
before
its silk gloved paws
glanced off my leg.
Erupting through
the tussocks, it shrank
to rabbit, then mouse.

Through the fence,
into the sea mist,
making a memory
for telling to children.

Job Opportunity - Literature Development Officer

Initially 4 month post; further year subject of application to SAC, decision expected May 2008. Salary: £21,861

As some of you may know, Andy Forster is moving on to pastures new with the Wordsworth Trust in Grasmere. Their gain is undoubtedly our loss, but Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association is therefore seeking a creative individual, able to work on their own initiative to develop and co-ordinate literary activity throughout the region, and manage an ongoing events programme, working in partnership with Wigtown Book Festival and Dumfries & Galloway Libraries, Information and Archives.

Candidates will have a track record of literature development in the community and a thorough knowledge of the literary scene, both contemporary and historic, in Scotland and beyond.

For information and application pack contact Danny McGrain, Administration and Finance Officer, on 01387 253383, or email danny@dgaa.net. For an informal chat call Susan Garnsworthy on 01387 253383. Closing date 17 April 2008.

Review of August Kleinzahler Poetry Event in Dumfries

Poetry lovers were treated last week to an evening with award winning American poet August Kleinzahler, who made his first visit to Dumfries after a barnstorming appearance at Stanza, Scotland’s Poetry Festival in St Andrews.

The first half of the evening was an interesting discussion with August, facilitated by Lilias Fraser, Reader Development Officer at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh. Lilias asked August to choose and read five poems from different poets, which he did with great personality. The poets chosen were varied, from the rugged force of Adam Drinan, a little known Scottish poet of the mid 20th century, to a fantastic poem, “Lufthansa”, from the Australian poet John Tranter, with its extraordinary sense of vertigo and a very human discontinuity of reflection and impression. August’s discussion with Lilias was both interesting and accessible to listen to, and much appreciated by the audience.

August then read from his own work. He was a great reader, with a big presence on stage, his work both lyrical and peppered with the colloquial:
“The ceiling and walls are star maps/ breathing, alive/ Those aren’t stars, darling/ That’s your nervous system/ Nanna didn’t take you to planetariums like this/Go on, touch/ Lovely, isn’t it/ Like phosphorus on Thule Lake” (extract from Hyper-Berceuse: 3am).

Poetry lovers in the region have more to look forward to, with news of leading contemporary poet Les Murray confirming a visit to Dumfries on 9th June. For further information please contact Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association on 01387 253383.

Under The Skin - 4 short plays this summer

The Swallow Community Actors have commissioned
four D&G writers - Vivien Jones, Mike Smith, David
Sumner and Carolyn Yates - to create four short plays for
a series of performances through the summer around the region.
The event 'Under the Skin' has been workshopped and
directed by Ken Gouge and each play explores what may lie
beneath the surface of human behaviour.

Performances start on 3 May at The Swallow Theatre,
already sold out, followed by 5 May at The CatStrand, with further performances still to be confirmed. Watch this space for more details!

Award Winning American Poet Visits Dumfries

Poetry audiences in Dumfries have a rare opportunity next month to see award-winning American poet August Kleinzahler. One of the freshest and most exciting poets of his generation August is coming to Scotland for Stanza, Scotland’s poetry festival, which takes place in St Andrews. His poems have a deceptive simplicity - they can sound like someone recounting an anecdote in a café but the listener is suddenly aware of listening to great wisdom.

August will read both his own poems and his favourite poems by other people, as part of the Scottish Poetry Library ‘Selected Works’ series. He will be presenting the poems in conversation with the SPL Reader Development Officer. The Scottish Poetry Library have been running this series successfully in Edinburgh, and are bringing the event to Dumfries as part of the ongoing partnership with Dumfries and Galloway Library Service and DGAA, which has seen the opening of an SPL collection at the Ewart Library. Lilias says: “The Scottish Poetry Library collection in Dumfries is one of our most popular outreach collections, and it’s great to have this opportunity to hold events here.”

Literature Development Officer Andrew Forster says: “The audience for poetry events in Dumfries and Galloway has grown considerably over the last few years. It’s wonderful for us to be able to work with Stanza and the SPL to bring poets of the stature of August Kleinzahler to Dumfries. This is an evening not to be missed!

August Kleinzahler’s Selected Works takes place at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre on Monday 17th March at 7.00pm. Tickets cost £7.00 (£5.00 concession) and available from Andrew Forster on 1387 253383 or andrew@dgaa.net.

Rab's Poem of the Day in the Herald last week

Snawdraps

The twenty-seeventh o Janwar, wha'd believe,
daunderin throu Drumlanrig's policies,
ablow gnarled oak an beech, whaes canopies
wir juist the slumbrin dwams o giant trees,
that we wid fuin these harbingers o Spring.
Green slender stalks ootcomin frae the grund,
prood heids held heich, that boldly socht the sun,
bi brucken stobs, an barbwire gently rusting.
Hou did these trustfu flooers instil sic joy?
Did they bring us in mind o oor green years?
Autumnal men aye haud their memories dear;
lik fillin jeelie-jaurs at schuil, as boys.
Whit'er it wis, some deep thing steered in me,
that stoapt ma oot-raxed haund, an lat thaim be.

Words On The Move

An exciting chance to work with Scottish animators and create kinetic poems for the web is being given to the region's writers.
Up to 10 poems will be animated and published on the DGAA website and other poetry outlets, inspired by a specially commissioned kinetic work from one of Scotland's foremost poets, Tom Leonard.
Kinetic Poetry is a lively new animated artform made entirely of words. For examples see www.dgaaweb.net
Words On The Move has been set up by DGAA virtual writing fellow Jules Horne to inspire writers to think and work in new ways.
Jules is running four sessions to introduce the project, with help from animation company Motion Blur, and their Dumfriesshire based artist and lecturer Sonia Di Genaro.

Kinetic Poetry sessions will take place across the region on the following dates:

Monday 18 February 7-9pm Gracefield Arts Centre (with Motion Blur Ltd)
Wednesday 20 February 10.30am -12.30pm Newton Stewart Library
Monday 3 March 7-9pm Lockerbie Library
Tuesday 4 March 10am to 12 noon GU Crichton Campus (in association with Crichton Writers)

Poems must be submitted by Friday 28 March. For further information please contact Andrew Forster at DGAA on 01387 253383 or email andrew@dgaa.net

Something In The Blood - Vivien Jones

Local poet, Vivien Jones, has a new chapbook out. "Something In The Blood" is published by Selkirk Lapwing Press, and is one of a series of chapbooks entitled Women Poets of the Borders. The series will be launched at the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh at 2pm on Saturday 16 February. The launch is a free event at which the four writers for the series, Katrina Porteous, Laurna Robertson, Pam Russell and Vivien Jones (who lives at Powfoot), will all read from their work.

Review of Open Stage, Burns Night, Dumfries

Songwriters and poets queued up to get their fingers burned at the Station Hotel, Friday last, to the sound of guest musician Alan McClure, and the words of guest poet, Rab Wilson. These two fronted a varied evening of songs and poems. Alan performed a set of five of his own songs, from a disturbing memoir of the slave trade, to a haunting love song that had ‘em weeping into their beer. Alan accompanied himself on guitar, at times with heavy rhythm, at others with haunting lyricism. Rab gave us a snippet of vintage Burns, sharp as loch water and you could smell the byre. He talked about the relevance of the poet to modern Scottish poets and poetry. He completed the set with two poems of his own, including a hilarious modern day version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

They were ably supported by local poets and musicians, who gave us Hugh McDiarmid and more Rabbie Burns set to music, including one singer who was pulled from the audience to perform My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose. The poets too tackled a variety of subjects, from a winter’s day, to a cloud of dust, with narrative poems of childhood and memory in Scots, and a speculation on what happened to Tam O’Shanter, the morning after! Guitars, plugged and unplugged, including a mean electric bass, supported a raft of singers, singles, doubles, and threesomes, that treated us to a wonderful range of music from the margins of traditional unaccompanied to the shores of rock.

Nicola Black hosted with warmth and talent, and the audience buzzed from start to finish. If I had one suggestion to make, it would be that it would be good to hear more poetry, from more poets, next time. Come on you poets! Next Open Stage is Friday 29 February.
Review contributed by Mike Smith.

The Robert Burns Fellowship Talks 2008

Please note change to date of Talk at Bladnoch on Mon 21st January - see below!

Dumfries & Galloway has an opportunity to mark the Burns season with a difference, in the form of Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association’s Robert Burns Fellowship Talks. DGAA started this series of events in 2004 when Hamish MacDonald held the post of Burns Fellow, in order to look at the contemporary relevance of Robert Burns. This year is the turn of new postholder Rab Wilson.

Rab will be reading Burns poems and drawing out some of the big themes in Burns’ work, while looking at the way some contemporary writers have responded to those themes. The Talks begin on 17 January at Gracefield Arts Centre in Dumfries in association with the Saltire Society, Dumfries and District Branch, who are launching a book of poems, some in Scots, by local members and friends.

Thurs 17 January Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries
Mon 21 January Bladnoch Distillery, Bladnoch, Wigtown - PLEASE NOTE - DUE TO UNFORSEEN CIRCUMSTANCES THIS TALK HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL TUES 5 FEBRUARY
Wed 23 January Buccleuch Centre, Langholm
Tues 29 January Cat Strand, New Galloway
Wed 30 January The Bruce, High Street, Annan
Thurs 31 January Kirkconnel Parish Heritage, The Cabin, Main St, Kirkconnel
Mon 4 February Stranraer Museum

All the talks begin at 7pm and are free.

Rab is rapidly becoming one of Scotland’s foremost Scots language poets. He is a charismatic performer and is in demand nationally as a speaker. Recently, he has spoken about the Scots language at conferences in Glasgow and Belfast. Rab is already a popular figure in Dumfries & Galloway. The last few months have seen him talking about Scots literature to reading groups, and travelling with the mobile libraries, reading Scots poems to library users.

DGAA’s Literature Development officer Andrew Forster says: ‘Traditional Burns nights are great fun but each year we like to do something a little different. The Burns Fellowship talks look at an aspect of Burns that doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. In the past we’ve looked at the marketing of Burns and at Burns as a radical poet. This year we’ll be looking at the way Burns’ concerns are still alive for writers today.’

But be warned. Do come early. Andrew says ‘The Burns talks are one of our most popular events. In the past we’ve had capacity audiences at both Bladnoch and in Dumfries, so people should come in plenty of time to ensure a good seat!’

Women Poets of the Borders

Make the trip to the Scottish Poetry Library in Edinburgh to hear four Women Poets of the Borders reading from their new chapbooks published by Selkirk Lapwing Press. The reading is at 2pm on Saturday 16 February at the Scottish Poetry Library in Crichton's Close off the Royal Mile.

Vivien Jones lives in Powfoot in Dumfries & Galloway. She is one of the driving forces behind the Crichton Writers, and in 2007 made her second appearance at the region's much praised Poetry Doubles series. Her dramatic writing has been performed around the region, and her poems and stories have been published in magazines and anthologies including New Writing Scotland and the Scotsman Orange Competition anthology.