Write a poem this Christmas

Take a break from the Christmas cheer to write a poem for the Wigtown Poetry Competition 2011.
Brian Johnstone will judge and award the 1st Prize of £2500, the runner-up prize of £500 and eight additional prizes of £25 each. There is also a special prize for a Gaelic poem of £300, to be judged Aonghas Phàdraig Caimbeul - Angus Peter Campbell, and a Scots Poem prize of £300, to be judged by Rab Wilson.
The closing date is 5pm Tuesday 3rd May 2011 and the winning poets will be invited to appear at the Wigtown Book Festival in 2011.
Competition rules and entry form are available to download http://www.wigtownbookfestival.com/poetrycomp/index.asp
For further information contact: Carolyn Yates, Literature Development Officer on 01387 253383 or carolyn@dgarts.co.uk

If you happen to be in Glasgow tonight...

...then Carcanet Press and Luath Press would like to invite you to the Glasgow launch of Kei Miller’s A Light Song of Light (Carcanet) and Liz Niven’s The Shard Box (Luath Press). We hope you can join us on Monday 13^th December from 6.30pm at The Scottish Writers’ Centre, The Centre For Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3JD. Jamaican born Kei Miller has published two Carcanet poetry collections and edited Carcanet’s New Caribbean Poetry Anthology. His latest collection A Light Song of Light was recently shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize 2010. Glasgow-born Liz Niven has completed several poetry collaborations with artists and photographers. Her new collection The Shard Box was published by Luath Press in 2010. Further details can be found on the attachment. Please RSVP to events@luath.co.uk if you would like to attend the Kei Miller and Liz Niven launch.

'One Letter Is Enough', a poem by Nobel peace prizewinner Liu Xiaobo

Today we celebrate the life and works of the Nobel Peace Prizewinner Liu Xiaobo, who is spending today locked up by the Chinese authorities for subversion. An empty chair represents him in Oslo at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

Do print off this poem and pin it up in a public place or e-mail it to a friend. Go to Scottish PEN for more.
http://www.scottishpen.org/news
This would be a good day to join PEN, a dynamic worldwide association of writers pledged to protect freedom of expression and promote literature across frontiers throughout the world. If you contact us, we can pass on your details to Liz Niven, who has recently set up a South of Scotland branch of Scottish PEN.

One Letter Is Enough

for Xia

one letter is enough
for me to transcend and face
you to speak
as the wind blows past
the night
uses its own blood
to write a secret verse
that reminds me each
word is the last word
the ice in your body
melts into a myth of fire
in the eyes of the executioner
fury turns to stone
two sets of iron rails
unexpectedly overlap
moths flap toward lamp
light, an eternal sign
that traces your shadow

8. 1. 2000

Taxi! Drop into Midsteeple on Saturday to enjoy tales from the back of a taxi

A real winter warmer – come along and spend an hour in the company of Douglas Findlay in the Midsteeple, High Street, Dumfries. 
He's on at 12 noon, Saturday 4th December, and admission is free.

Douglas Findlay's highly entertaining anecdotes of his time as a cabbie in postwar Edinburgh will keep you chortling. Never one to turn down a fare, he will regale you with tales of the extraordinary range of characters he's had ‘in the back’ and how he ended up in the most bizarre situations.

There will also be mince pies and drinks and an opportunity to buy his memoir Taxi! – an ideal Christmas present.

Book for Hideo Furuta, sculptor of Adamson Square, Creetown, to be launched in Dumfries

Do leave your firesides for a special celebration on Monday 6 December of the famous sculptor Hideo Furuta. dgArts has published a beautiful book of photographs and the story behind the work, which is being launched in Dumfries. Christmas presents solved on the spot!

All receipts from the sale of ‘In Context: Hideo Furuta and Adamson Square’ will go to the Hideo Furuta Creative Arts Fund which will support the commissioning of young creative professionals to develop new projects for Dumfries and Galloway, with particular emphasis on the Creetown area.

Come along to the Midsteeple next Monday at 7pm to enjoy a glass of wine, a slide show and a talk, all welcome.

What a welcome from A' The Airts

I don't often find time to write an 'afterwards' blog, but the world should know what a great new venue Sanquhar's got in its spanking new, shiny white A' The Airts. And what a great night the final Poetry Doubles of 2010 delivered there.

A minibus load of poets disembarked onto frosty pavements and tottered in under the weight of banners and booze (well, and orange juice) to a fantastic welcome from Sanquhar. There is a beautiful cafe, with big windows and little tables. Shelves of attractive hand-crafted goods warm up one side of the room. Dennis O' Driscoll and JoAnne McKay performed in a great space upstairs where the tall 19th century ceiling has been retained above the new raked seating. It all felt very clean and white and new, but has been made warm and local by lots of vibrant framed paintings (I'm guessing from the schools).

Dennis O'Driscoll mentioned that he was known for his gloomy poetry, then read us a set which frequently had the audience in giggles. Then he said he'd better ensure his reputation stood, and read us 'someone is dressing up for death today'. It was read on radio after 9/11, though written 20 years earlier. It's about all of us really. Sanquhar loved him. Dennis's 4am start in Ireland and transport by Ryanair prevented there being any books to buy, but get online everyone, and buy one.

JoAnne's set was really well judged for both humour and her own kind of unsparing honesty. As she admitted, the ones about the Old Bill do go down well. Impossible to listen without picturing a feisty younger JoAnne pinning down machete-wielding villians... And Venti is a very good (and amazingly beautifully crafted) pamphlet.

Well, that's Poetry Doubles for 2010. I'm looking forward to next year's already...

Dennis O'Driscoll and JoAnne McKay read in Sanquhar on Tuesday

A reading to leave your fireside for, the final Poetry Doubles of 2010 is set to go out with real flourish as acclaimed Irish poet Dennis O'Driscoll reads alongside the sparkling JoAnne McKay in a brand new venue for Sanquhar 'A' The Airts'. The event takes place on Tuesday 23 November, 7pm, £7/£5 on the door or ring us on 01387 253383 to reserve your tickets. Carolyn is investigating shared transport from Dumfries to Sanquhar for this event - do call her on 01387 253383 if interested.

Dennis O'Driscoll's crisp, musical poetry has, says the Guardian, 'made him an international poet who you can commend unequivocally to anyone with a heart and a mind'. He is much in demand as a reader (so much so that Carolyn has to drive him to Lumb Bank in Yorkshire tomorrow so he could fit us in!)

JoAnne's poetry is by turns funny, mysterious and wrenching, and she is an excellent performer of her work.

I leave you with a wintry little taste of Dennis O'Driscoll:

…you contemplate winter
with something close to tenderness, the sprint
from fuel shed to back door, the leisurely
ascent of peat smoke, even the suburban haze
of boiler flues when thermostats are set.

Beth Fouracre to guest at next week's Open Stage

It's a real pleasure to welcome massively talented singer songwriter Beth Fouracre back to Open Stage. I thought she was great - she did these amazing sounds through the amplifier, recording her own voice and singing over it - gorgeous to listen to. Now she's working on the alphabeth sessions...

She'll be back for next Wednesday's Open Stage (the 24th), at So You Cafe on Castle Street. The evening starts at 7pm when you're warmly invited to come along and book a space to perform in. The show starts at 7.30pm, and Nicola Black will be our compere. £3 on the door.

Find out more about Beth, and get a listen to help you make the decision to go out into this fine weather we're having at http://www.myspace.com/bethfouracre

Kenneth Steven and Jean Atkin in Poetry Doubles on Monday 15 November

Poetry Doubles is back on Monday 15th November, with a chance to enjoy the poetry of Kenneth Steven and Jean Atkin.

The evening starts at 7pm at the Rutherford McCowan Building on the Crichton Campus in Dumfries. Kenneth is much published, writing sensitive poetry about the natural world, very much rooted in the Highlands of Scotland.
My work is much less published - but I've had an exciting year or so culminating in the publication of my first pamphlet from Ravenglass Poetry Press. Hear poems from 'The Treeless Region', a taste of Shetland from my forthcoming pamphlet with Roncadora, and some new stuff.

Hope to see you there! If you need help finding it try this link: http://www.gla.ac.uk/media/media_75482_en.pdf

Literary Lunch at Casa Mia - tickets available now!

Grab your tickets for the Peter Pan Moat Brae Trust fund-raising Literary Lunch at 12 noon on Friday 12^th November 2010 At Casa Mia . Owen Dudley Edwards is giving the talk: Peter Pan and Us, plus 2-course Lunch with wine. Tickets £20. contact Sheri Blackett sheri@arbigland.com

Liz Niven, Margaret Elphinstone and Tom Pow in support of PEN

Liz Niven has arranged the 1st meeting of PEN South West Scotland branch. 17TH NOVEMBER 2010 COACH & HORSES, Whitesands, Dumfries 7pm

PEN campaigns for writers and freedom of expression around the world. Membership of PEN is open to all involved in Scottish literature, including publishers, editors and students, as well as writers, poets and playwrights.

New members and friends welcome.

Liz Niven, Margaret Elphinstone and Tom Pow will be reading from the work in translation of imprisoned writers such as Liu Xiaobo, recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and currently in jail.

Further information: ln@lizniven.com or info@scottishpen.org

Jen Hadfield comes to Crichton Campus!

Come along next week to hear Jen Hadfield read her poetry and talk about it at The Crichton Campus in Dumfries. Wed 10 Nov at 2pm, Rutherford McCowan Building.

Jen's work has been described by Andrew Motion as 'jaunty, energetic and iconoclastic'.

Come because it'll be a joy. Free, too.


http://www.dgarts.co.uk/1223/events/jen-hadfield-at-the-crichton/

Emma's 'Pentland Javelin' is Poem of the Week

'Pentland Javelin' by Emma Strang from Southlight 7 will be next Saturday's Poem of the Week in The Herald. Congratulations Em!

Sadly, the poem of the day has been relegated to Saturdays only as an economy measure. A lot of writers and readers in D&G will miss this. Poem of the Day was one outlet where new writers could be showcased alongside established and legendary writers - there was always just a chance that Lesley would choose your piece. We encourage you to write individually to Jonathan Russell if you feel the same way we do.

Review of 'Venti' by JoAnne McKay

The first thing that strikes you when you pick up JoAnne McKay’s pamphlet ‘Venti’, is just how nice it feels in your hands. Lovingly and exactly designed for both textural appeal and visual beauty, ‘Venti’ is a stunner. The gorgeous illustrations by Matt Kish lift the book and complement the poetry. Awesome work has gone into each and every copy by way of hand-stitching, embossing, a choice of outer cover and differently coloured be-ribboned label…

But this is also dextrous, accomplished poetry. A distinctive voice, wise as well as energetic, permeates these poems. I like the grounded experience that comes through in poems like ‘In These Hard Times’:
‘Tonight, new moon,
whilst washing this single bowl,
I have not seen you.
I screw my eyes and sever
vision from brain’…

JoAnne is an excellent performer of her own work, giving it an almost hypnotic rhythm and sense of narrative. She’s good on superstition, and instinct. ‘Elm Hateth Man, and Waiteth’ derives from folklore, and majors on haunting repetition:
‘Who lives in thee, elm tree?
No one, cried the rooks’

JoAnne can also write both sensitively and unsentimentally about nature, as in the title poem, ‘Venti’:
‘I like the leached night;
my trees talk to me.
Sound-wash soft Rowan
Apple shiver
hard notes of Pear.’

These poems are engaging because the poet’s self-reliance and the intelligent judgement she brings to her observation of the world shine through. ‘Venti’ feels surefooted. And it’s jolly nice to own. If you want to acquire one, explore http://titusthedog.blogspot.com/


Reviewed by Jean Atkin

Poetry and Jazz with Trio Verso at The Bakehouse

A delicious evening of poetry and jazz beckons at The Bakehouse on Saturday 30 October, with improvisation group Trio Verso – poet Brian Johnstone (co-founder and former Director of the StAnza Poetry Festival) and musicians Richard Ingham (saxes, bass clarinet, low whistle, trombophone) & Louise Major (double bass). Get there at 7.30pm to enjoy a most un-Halloween-weekend experience of imagination, fusion and harmony.

Trio Verso’s work interprets and refocuses the 1950s poetry & jazz movement for a 21st century audience, through fusing Brian Johnstone’s evocative lyric texts with free improvised jazz grooves and jazz-inflected soundscapes. Trio Verso performances are centred on close interaction, the poet exploring different interpretations of the texts in reaction to the sounds created, and the musicians exploiting their technique and their instruments’ potential in response to the readings.

Since forming in 2007, Trio Verso has performed at the Big Tent Festival in Falkland, at the WordFringe Festival in Aberdeenshire, at the Callander Poetry Weekend and for poetry sessions at the Scottish Poetry Library, Shore Poets and the Golden Hour, all Edinburgh and Last Monday at the Rio in Glasgow. Their CD Storm Chaser was released in 2010. myspace.com/trioverso

Tickets from 01557 814175 or email bookings@thebakehouse.info

Supported by GaelForce

Book your tickets to hear Les Murray at The Crichton!

Pick up the phone and secure your tickets for Les Murray on Tuesday 26 October! Out of the blue we got a phonecall from Les Murray's agent in Britain, offering us the opportunity of a reading here in Dumfries. Since he’s coming all the way from Oz we didn’t hesitate! Les is a great performer of his work - he's huge and dusty like he's just stepped out of the outback, with a kind rumble of a voice and an exhilarating way with words. Absolutely not to be missed.

Les Murray will be reading at the Rutherford McCowan Building on the University of Glasgow campus at the Crichton site at 7pm. This is an exceptional opportunity to hear this great internationally renowned poet. Tickets are £10 and £8, available from us at dgArts on 01387 253383.

Les Murray is Australia’s leading poet and one of the greatest contemporary poets writing in English. His work has been published in ten languages. In 1999 he was awarded the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry on the recommendation of Ted Hughes.

Les Murray was born in 1938 in New South Wales. His Murray forebears had arrived on the Manning in the 1840s and Les has always been proud of both his Gaelic and pioneer Australian ancestry. Les has a soft spot for south west Scotland. Full of humour, energy and inventiveness, his poetry is a real treat.

Book Launch: ‘I Remember, I Remember’ by The Crichton Writers

A date for your diaries! On Monday 18^th October at 7pm-8pm in The Midsteeple, High Street, Dumfries the Crichton Writers will be launching their memoirs album, titled, 'I remember, I remember'.

Neither military nor misery, Crichton Writers read from their 2010 memoirs album, revealing a very broad spectrum of experience drawn from their colourful lives. Copies of the illustrated album available.

Free Admission
Supported by GaelForce

Vivien goes south to receive the Poetry London Prize!

Well done Vivien!  Very best wishes from all at dgArts!
National Poetry Day happy returns.
Hope it's a good party...

Hey - please come along and find us on Facebook!

dgArts has a new Facebook page - do come along and join in. A great place to upload your photos of events, your reviews, your ideas and your random musings or mutterings...
Just click the FB icon on the front of our new website.

Harry Potter pages on display for Wigtown Book Festival

What a coup!  And a winning occasion for a good cup of coffee - read The Ballad of Nearly Headless Nick in the delicious surroundings of Reading Lasses http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-11365173

And Andy Forster talks to Dave Borthwick at 2pm on Monday 20th

Andrew Forster will discuss with Dr David Borthwick his recent collection Territory in the context of the contemporary resurgence in poetic responses to the environment.  Andrew and David will consider how one comes to be ‘at home’ in a landscape, from dwelling to engagement with a place’s history, animal encounters to weather events.  Along the way, they will talk about writing by a range of contemporary poets, John Burnside to Alice Oswald, Kathleen Jamie to Don McKay.

Monday 20 September, Room 232 Rutherford McCowan Building, The Crichton, Dumfries.  Admission £5 for members of the public, £3 for students.

And then get down to Poetry Doubles with Andrew Forster and Katy Ewing at the Brigend Theatre at 7pm - look forward to seeing you there!

When Andrew Forster’s first collection, Fear of Thunder, was shortlisted for theForward First Collection Prize in 2007 he was working in Dumfries and Galloway as our Literature Development Officer.  Andy has since moved to Cumbria to work for the Wordsworth Trust, but we've persuaded him back across the border to take part in Dumfries and Galloway’s prestigious Poetry Doubles series.  With which he's wholly familiar, because it was his idea...

 

Andy will share a stage on Monday 20 September with Katy Ewing.  They will perform at the Brigend Theatre, Dumfries at 7pm.  Tickets are available from dgArts www.dgarts.co.uk

 

Andrew’s second collection, Territory, which was published earlier this year by Flambard, focuses on his time in the former mining village of Leadhills in Upper Nithsdale.  His poems explore what it means to make a home in a particular place, and the relationship with the environment that this implies.

Katy Ewing is in her third year of the Liberal Arts Humanities degree at Glasgow University in Dumfries. She lives with her young family in the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway.  Katy's work is precise, vivid and illuminating.  

This will really be an evening of poetry to savour.  Hope to see you there!

Liz Niven launches 'The Shard Box' on Friday 17 Sept at Midsteeple

dgArts launches Liz Niven’s new collection of poems The Shard Box  at 7.00pm on FRIDAY 17^th September at Midsteeple.  Free admission - hope to see you there!

A new review by Janet Paisley says:

“There is fine writing in the Shard Box, crafted with vision, warmth and shafts of devastating insight. Under Liz Niven’s scrutiny, China opens like a lotus blossom, secretive, then revealed. Cambodia springs into full-blooded view. The same honesty wraps care round a dying father, and lets a daughter launch, unhindered, into adult life. Poignant and potent, these shards create a global journey, connecting the familial to the unfamiliar, revealing through small things our vast, culpable humanity.”

Sneak Wigtown Preview: the Director's Cut...

With more than 170 events over 10 days,  it can be easy to miss things in the Wigtown Book Festival programme. In the first of two "Festival Director's Cuts", programmer Adrian Turpin takes a personal pick of some of the gems buried in this year's line-up:

Michael Foley: The Age of Absurdity
12 noon Sat 25 Sept
One man's very funny and astute take on why modern life seem to be slowly driving us all mad.

Granta Magazine Event: Families and How to Survive Writing about Them
1.30pm Sat 25 Sept
Two of Britain's liveliest novelists, Janice Galloway and Rupert Thomson, on the trials of writing about family.

Martin Creed
3pm Sun 26 Sept
The festival's first Turner prize winner: he's also a brilliant performer. He even plays guitar in his talk.

Alex Bellos: Alex's Adventures in Numberland
4.30pm Sun 26 Sept
Multitalented? The author of this much-admired book about mathematical oddities was Pele's ghostwriter.

Sara Wheeler: The Magnetic North
6pm Mon 27 Sept
Everything you have ever wanted to know about the arctic: from inuit life to the race for oil. Fascinating.

Henry Nicholls: The Way of the Panda
3pm Thur 30 Sept
Everyone loves pandas. But until 150 years ago they were unknown outside China. Now they've become diplomatic pawns. Henry Nicholls' black-and-white tale should be read all over.

Suzanne Fagence Cooper: The Model Wife
1.30pm Fri 1 Oct
The love triangle between the model Effie Gray, the critic Ruskin and the painter Millais was the biggest scandal of Victorian times. Today it would have been all over Heat magazine.
HOW TO BOOK

You can book online at www.wigtownbookfestival.com, by phone on 01988 403222 or 01988 402036 (9am - 5pm, Monday to Friday, 10am - 4pm Saturday and 2pm - 4pm Sunday) or simply by popping into our office in the County Buildings, Wigtown.

If you know of anyone else who would like to receive a copy of the programme please send their full address to mail@wigtownbookfestival.com

Poetry Doubles lights up Castle Douglas Monday 6 September

Brian Johnstone

Make your way to the Gordon Memorial Hall, Whitepark Road, down by Carlingford Loch in Castle Douglas on Monday evening to enjoy a stellar line-up of ex-StAnza Festival Director Brian Johnstone, alongside prize-winning local poets Fiona Russell and Em Strang.
Brian Johnstone’s poems are ‘full of stilled moments and nicely shaped incidents’ (Scotland on Sunday).  His most recent collection is The Book of Belongings (Arc, 2009). He is a co-founder of the StAnza Poetry Festival and was its Festival Director from 2000-2010.

Em Strang is studying an MPhil in eco poetry at Glasgow University’s Dumfries campus. Winner of the 2010 Kirkpatrick Dobie Prize For Poetry, she has published poems in Markings, Poetry Scotland and Swamp.
Fiona Russell lives on the family hill sheep farm with her two rescue lurchers.  She is currently studying for a PhD.  Her MLitt folio, Where Clouds Come To Die, won a Sir Patrick Geddes Award in March 2010.  Fiona’s training in agriculture and illustration help her make use of observational skills for her writing.

The event starts at 7pm, when we welcome you in and ply you with pleasant drinks.  Tickets are £7/£5, available from dgArts at The Midsteeple, Dumfries, 01387 253383 or on the door. Look forward to seeing you there!

Launch of 'The Treeless Region'

 - It's tonight!  I'm very excited, and do please come along at 7pm.  I know you'd come just for the poetry - but did I mention the free wine, and the homemade cake? 

'The Treeless Region' is published by Ravenglass Poetry Press, costs £4.99 and is available from www.ravenglasspoetrypress.co.ukhttp://www.ravenglasspoetrypress.co.uk/ and (imminently) on Amazon.

Susi Woodmass plays at Open Stage Wed 25th August

Come along to So You Cafe on Castle Street, Dumfries next Wednesday 25th to enjoy Stewartry singer songwriter Susi Woodmass' lovely voice! 

Susi Woodmass has a growing reputation for her innovative musical style. She uses strong rythmical guitar lines to underpin the beautiful vocal lines which come direct from the heart.

She has spent most of her life in Dumfries and Galloway, and in her other life appears as Susi Sweetpea as well as part of the Wee Folk Storytellers.

Organised by Dumfries & Galloway Arts, Open Stage provides a unique opportunity for poets and singer songwriters in the region to perform in front of a friendly live audience.
Nicola Black will be your compere for the evening, and we'll be there at 7pm to welcome you and book your performance slot. The show starts at 7.30pm and if you don't want to perform, come along then and join our friendly audience for a great night. £3 on the door.

New Book published by Brindley Hallam Dennis - aka Mike Smith

Just to let you all know that 'That's What Ya Get' has just been published by Unbound Press.  Anyone who was at Open Stage in Dumfries last month was blown away by the 'Assertions of Kowalski', Mike's extraordinary character who, he says, just opened his mouth and started talking.

It's very, very funny, and gets straight to the places you didn't know you had places...

Buy from Unbound Press www.unboundpress.co.uk (well, shortly, I imagine, it's still on their 'Forthcoming Titles' page, but it'll be getting there rapidly, due to demand).

Nice one BHD.

Not to be missed - Poetry Doubles starts from across the pond!

Look forward very much to seeing you at the Robert Burns Film Centre Theatre this Thursday 12th at 7pm for the start of 2010's Poetry Doubles season. 
And it's a big start, with visiting-from-USA renowned poet George Wallace, who will share the stage at RBCFT with our own talented Lynn Otty.  There follows a bit of blurb...

George Wallace is an American poet and poetry activist, who has created a grassroots network of venues for poetry stretching from downtown New York to Penrith, Kendal and now Dumfries. George is very much a performance poet, and his imaginative work is both deceptively simple and strongly rhythmic. As well as being a renowned poet, George is the editor and publisher of Poetry Bay, an on-line magazine.  'Whitman has snuck into Wallace – that same marrowy vigour, the uninhibited reach, that headlong urgency…except that, with Wallace, his narrative shirt-buttons are all undone.’
Mario Petrucci.
Lynn Otty is a Canadian who grew up on the prairies. She has lived in South West Scotland since the 1970s. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in a number of anthologies and literary magazines. The Scottish Association of Writers highly commended her work at their annual conference this spring. She says “I am a late starter and always thought of myself as a writer-in-waiting. Never quite figured out what it was that I was waiting for so decided I’d better get writing.”

There.  It'll be great!  See you on Thursday!

You'll enjoy this - Liz Niven's Poem of the Day in the Herald

Congratulations to Liz Niven, for Hamecomin Blessins, which was Poem of the Day in The Herald on 22 July.  Beautiful poem!  http://www.lizniven.com/


Hamecomin blessins



Blessins
oan the faimilies waitin,
breid, watter and mair oan the table,
bed made, hoose trig,
bit naebodie comes hame.

Blessins
oan the folk wi nae hames tae gan tae,
cooried, at the hin en o a dreich nicht,
intae cairdboard boxes or
warmin hauns roon a brazier unner a bypass
win flappin roon faces shilpit an wan.

Blessins
oan the sodger hunkert doon
in a bluid-soakt sheuch,
or the refugee staunin
at the black-brunt shell o hoose.

Blessins oan
thaim whae come hame,
thaim whae dinnae ,
thaim wi nae hame tae gan tae.
in this Hamecomin year.


Liz Niven
(shortlisted McCash 2009)

Vivien Jones wins Poetry London Competition!

We are so proud of you Vivien!  Vivien Jones has just won the Poetry London Competition 2010, judged by Michael Longley.

Vivien's poem, 'My Mother's Literature' took 1st prize, winning £1000 and publication in Poetry London's autumn issue.  (Buy one!)

Vivien is an increasingly well known poet and writer, and has her first poetry collection out this month, published by Indigo Dreams.  'About Time, Too' will be launched at the Midsteeple, Dumfries, and at Wigtown Book Festival.  Find out more at  http://www.vivienjones.info/

I'm chasing Vivien to give me a copy of 'My Mother's Literature' so we can make it Poem of the Month in The Midsteeple - do drop in and read it.

Save the date! Les Murray to read in Dumfries 26 October!

Out of the blue came a phonecall from Les Murray's agent in Britain, offering us the opportunity of a reading here in Dumfries. 
We said Yes (quite loudly).  

This is an exceptional opportunity to hear this great internationally renowned poet.  He's huge and dusty like he's just stepped out of the outback, with a kind rumble of a voice and an exhilarating way with words.  Absolutely not to be missed.

...and the creekwater film spooling over causeways got spliced many times
  with its boulders like ice under whisky, tree pools mirrory as the eyes of horses.

He'll be here on Tuesday 26 October, venue tbc...  I'll keep you posted.

Open Stage 28 July - A Busload of Border Poets!

Come along to So You Cafe on Castle Street, Dumfries next Wednesday to enjoy a special 'Over The Border' experience from a busload of Cumbrian poets, led by the twin energies of Brindley Hallam Dennis and Nick Pemberton.

Organised by Dumfries & Galloway Arts, Open Stage provides a unique opportunity for poets and singer songwriters in the region to perform in front of a friendly live audience.

Nicola Black will be your compere for the evening, and we'll be there at 7pm to welcome you and book your performance slot.  The show starts at 7.30pm and if you don't want to perform, come along then and join our friendly audience for a great night.  £3 on the door.

Creative Writing Workshop 12 August with GEORGE WALLACE

Don't miss out on the chance to do a creative writing workshop with this internationally famous poet!  George Wallace is widely published, and also edits PoetryBay, which publishes online, featuring high quality work from around the world.  George has created a unique workshop experience designed to enhance writers' ability to create space for the imagination to explore, invent, discover and roam.

A treat for summer!  The workshop will take place at The Midsteeple, Dumfries from 2.30pm to 4.30pm, and costs £10.  To book please email Carolyn@dgaa.net.

George will be reading in Poetry Doubles with talented Dumfries and Galloway poet Lynn Otty later that day, when they'll be on stage at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre at 7pm.  See www.dgaa.net for details and look out for the flyer.

Do a sun dance for Rab!

Rab Wilson says: Ahm daein twa readins at the Wickerman 'Word Tent'; Friday 5:10pm an Setterday 3:50pm

Dae a wee 'sun dance' fir me, will ye!??

Well done Vivien! Poem of the Day in The Herald on 6 July

KELVINGROVE, GLASGOW

We had to go – years of sighing
over illustrations in design books
made it imperative – we had to look.

Who dared say it first?
You were full of well-tutored
respect for established opinion
but you also knew the making craft,
the strength of joints, the angles
that support the human spine.

‘Those chairs’- I whispered,
intimidated by the museum hush -
‘they don’t look very comfortable’,
thinking of those Glasgow matrons
taking tea and gossip together
in rival tea rooms, undomesticated
in fur jackets, heels and gloves.

You smiled, relishing your own
affection for a making tradition
so like your Cotswold heroes.

Never mind the Rennie Mackintosh,
the cutlery made you weep.



Vivien Jones
Poem of the Day in The Herald
6 July 2010

Find The Fankle!

You might like to know about The Fankle - latest venture from Dumfries Writers Group.  This ingeniously folded pamphlet featuring prose, poetry and short fiction from a thoroughly talented group of writers is available now from The Midsteeple in Dumfries (and a variety of shops and cafes across the region).  Its origami-like construction and classy design are the result of Hugh Bryden's skill, and we reckon here that it's the most fun and inspiration to be had in D&G for 50p...

Don't miss out - this is the first-ever issue of what's got to be a pocket classic of a pamphlet!

For more, go to www.thefankle.net

Hugh MacDiarmid Lecture in Langholm 28 August

The Hugh MacDiarmid lecture 2010 is -

'Poets' Pub: Hugh MacDiarmid and His Contemporaries: Poets, Artists and the Challenge of Modern Scotland'

In this illustrated and wide-ranging lecture, Alexander Moffat and Alan Riach show how central MacDiarmid was to the vitality of literary and artistic life in modern Scotland, and ask how important his stimulus and the work of poets and artists is, in the 21st century.

Venue: Buccleuch Centre, Langholm. Saturday 28 August.

Lunch and lecture £18.50; Lunch 12 noon for 12.15

lecture only £4.00; Lecture 2pm.

Tickets available from Buccleuch Centre: 013873 81196.

Time for my hols! And 'The Treeless Region' is on its way.

I'm off to Ledbury Poetry Festival tomorrow - very much looking forward to it!  Going to hear Pascale Petit and Jane Weir for starters, but there's just masses. http://www.poetry-festival.com/index.html

And news at last - 'The Treeless Region' will be launched on Monday 30 August at the Midsteeple.  I will remind you! 

Poetry Doubles begins with George Wallace and Lynn Otty

A date for your diaries – on 12 August Poetry Doubles launches with George Wallace from the USA and Lynn Otty @ the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre 7.00pm.

From 2.30 pm to 4.30pm on 12 August George will be running a creative writing workshop in the Midsteeple (£10). As well as being a renowned poet, George is the editor and publisher of Poetry Bay, an on-line magazine. For more information, go to http://www.poetrybay.com/

To book a workshop place contact Carolyn @ DGAA

Bruce McKenzie (yes, West Sound DJ) plays Open Stage!

Come along on Wednesday 30th June to So You Cafe and catch Scotland's last untamed DJ (I didn't make that up, he did) - the very talented Bruce McKenzie and his mate Chris Henry performing as Sketchproof.  They're working on their first album and aim to start recording this winter. 

Also as ever, an opportunity to read your new work to a receptive audience, or just come along for a good night out.  Doors open at 7pm, entry is £3 on the door.

How to get published - workshop in Hawick

If you missed the How to Get Published workshop held earlier this year in Dumfries, then you might be able to catch the same show in hawick on 29 June.  Info and contacts below, just give them a ring to book your place - it's free.

How to Get Published commissioned by CABN

Tuesday 29 June 2010, 18:30-20:30

Room 205, Heart of Hawick – Tower Mill, Kirkstile, Hawick TD9 0AE

Contact: Mary Morrison
Project Manager CABN : Creative Arts Business Network Arts Development
Scottish Borders Council
Heart of Hawick – Tower Mill
Kirkstile
Hawick
TD9 0AE
tel: 01450 360689
mob: 07789 944 993

Launch of 'The Treeless Region' POSTPONED

Ooops!  The launch of my new poetry collection, 'The Treeless Region' has been postponed.  Not on tonight! 

Basically the printers have got themselves in a tangle, and so we've had to reschedule.  Publisher has been tearing out hair, but swears things are getting organised now.  So I can go public with a new date very shortly, probably in early August, because I'm away two weeks in July, and probably so are you...

Thanks for your support - much appreciated!

Academi Cardiff International Poetry Comp runner up from Dumfries!

Congratulations Hugh McMillan!  A chance google led me to discover this fine poet has been named a runner up in the highly prestigious Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition.  Follow the link http://www.academi.org/cipc/to enjoy the poem, My Father From Extant Sources.  I love it.

The Lost Garden launches at The Midsteeple on Wednesday

Just to remind you all  to come along to the Midsteeple on Wednesday evening to enjoy the launch of Hugh McMillan's new book designed by Hugh Bryden and published by Roncadora - The Lost Garden.
Ravishing book, gorgeous poetry and Hugh McMillan will make you laugh in all the right places.

Devorgilla's Bridge makes Marks Award shortlist

Warm congratulations to the two Shugs - again!  Devorgilla's Bridge has been shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award for Poetry Pamphlets. Best of luck Shugs for the final in London on 16 June.
'Roncadora Press have created a single fold-out poem by Hugh McMillan, beautifully complemented by a linocut by Hugh Bryden, is devoted to what is said to be Scotland’s oldest bridge: ‘an astronaut in stone’.' Take a look at http://www.bl.uk/poetrypamphlets/ 

May Open Stage - we're delighted to announce BLUE as our guest!

Open Stage will be back at So You Cafe on Wednesday 26 May.  To allow more space for all you poets and singer songwriters we've decided to stick with just one guest performer per evening - and this time it will be nationally known singer songwriter Blue, best known here perhaps for his work with Quirkus.  Blue writes much of their material, and is a great performer.  A good time guaranteed.

Nicola Black will be your compere for the evening, and DGAA will be there to welcome you at 7pm to book your slot before it all gets going at 7.30pm.  If you don't want to perform, come along and join our friendly audience for a great night!

More Congratulations for Hughs McMillan and Bryden!

Latest news: big congratulations to Hugh McMillan from all of us at DGAA!  Hugh has made the shortlist of the very prestigious Michael Marks/poetry Society Pamphlet Prize with  'Devorgilla's Bridge'. He  will be doing his bit to promote the Auld Brig in London on 16 June.  

http://www.bl.uk/poetrypamphlets/
And come along to Midsteeple on 2 June, 7.00pm,  to congratulate him and to celebrate the two Hughs’ beautiful new publication:  The Lost Garden

 Roncadora Press is proud to announce the publication, in May 2010, of ‘The Lost Garden’ by Hugh McMillan. This is the first full poetry collection published by Roncadora Press whose pamphlets from a range of contemporary poets, including ‘Postcards From the Hedge’, a previous collaboration with poet Hugh McMillan and winner of the 2009 Callum MacDonald Prize, have been highly acclaimed. Roncadora Press prides itself on making fine hand made artists’ books as well as showcasing some of the finest of Scotland’s poets. ‘The Lost Garden’ will continue this tradition, combining Hugh McMillan’s imaginative and skilful verse with linocuts and line drawings by Hugh Bryden, all contained in an ingeniously designed and unique hand-stitched volume.
Hugh McMillan lives in Penpont and works as a teacher in Dumfries Academy. This is his 5th full collection of poetry. He is one of Scotland’s most individual, accessible and entertaining voices. “Funny, intelligent and at times overlooked, he is one of Scotland's best contemporary poets.” Tessa Ransford

Open Stage is back at So You Cafe in Dumfries Wed 26 May!

Open Stage is back at So You Cafe this month - and we'd love to see you there on Wednesday 26 May!

Created to provide a showcase in the region for poets and singer songwriters, Open Stage will be hosted as usual by lovely, friendly Nicola Black, who makes everyone feel at home.  The special guest this month is Blue, a very talented singer songwriter who has played all over Britain, both as a solo act and in bands,most recently with Quirkus.  Blue has a beautiful lyrical style with clever word play vocals supported by his individual accompaniments.
Entry is £3 on the door, come at 7pm to book your performance slot.  The evening starts at 7.30.
Each performer gets around 5 minutes, which tends to work out at 2 songs - or 3 poems.
Hope to see lots of you there again this month!

Peter Pan inspires new poetry at Midsteeple Thursday 20 May

Come along to The Midsteeple next Thursday 20 May to join in the celebrations for the launch of 'On the Grass Cloud', a new booklet of poems inspired by JM Barrie's most famous creation - Peter Pan.

On the Grass Cloud has been commissioned by The Moat Brae Trust, and proceeds from the sale will go towards the restoration of Moat Brae itself.The poems are written by the pupils and staff of Dumfries Academy, inspired by the theme of Neverland. 

On the Grass Cloud has been edited by well-known poet Hugh McMillan, with contributions from both young and experienced writers, and a special poem donated by multi-award winning Dumfries poet Tom Pow.

We can only agree with Hugh that the creative imagination is alive and well and burgeoning as magically as the garden of Moat Brae once did for the youthful JM Barrie!

Book Launch at The Midsteeple next Monday 10 May for Laura Helyer

Do come along next Monday evening at 7pm for the launch in Dumfries of Paper Cairns, by Laura Helyer. 
Paper Cairns is a short collection of poems and a short essay based on Laura’s visits to the island of Lewis in the summer of 2009. Laura won the GAMA (Gatliff/Angus McLeod Archive) award for 2009. She explored the life and work of Angus ‘Ease’ McLeod (1916-2002) who lived in Lewis, as the inspirational source for her work.
As many of you know, Laura is a very talented poet, runner up in the 2006 Academi Cardiff International Poetry Competition, winner of the George Crabbe Memorial Poetry Competition in 2007, and winner of the Kirkpatrick Dobie Poetry Competition in 2008. You're all very welcome to come along (free entry!) to The Midsteeple to toast Laura and enjoy some fine poetry.

Deeper and Weirder

A quick update...The Tide Machine Show at midday's high tide was just stupendous. Strange anemone creatures dance and shuffle under a weird wailing roar from the tide-driven organ pipes. Crab-dancers rise on a single vast claw and freeze through ebb and flow and face-off of aggressive crustaceans. Musicians float around the dock in a laden little boat. It can only get stranger still for high tide at midnight...

Open Stage is down at Kingholm Quay tonight - try not to miss this!

Inspiration down at The Tide Machine

Yes, it's got to be the best inspiration for D&G writers next week!  The Tide Machine, Scotland’s first tide-powered stage, will be installed on the River Nith at Kingholm Quay in Dumfries this weekend, in time for two special performances at the high tides on Wednesday 28 April.
The specially commissioned theatrical dance performance by Alex’s company Oceanallover ‘The Tide Machine Show’, which involves 25 performers in fantastical costumes and strange, deep-sea soundscapes, is timed for the high tide at noon, and Oceanallover will repeat their performance at the next high tide, at midnight.


Spectacular new costumes are being created for Oceanallover’s performance, ‘The Tide Machine Show’. Some of the costumes involve huge reclaimed church organ pipes, which can be ‘played’ by the wearer, using bellows under the arms. More organ pipes will be installed on The Tide Machine itself: Mark and Alex have invented a means of using the tide to compress air which plays the organ pipes. The soundscapes and costumes reflect the ‘story’ Oceanallover have created to fuel this performance – a modern myth about the cycle of tides and lunar pull, in which creatures of the sea are drawn first earthwards, and then towards the moon in a repeating process of ebb and flow…
Have a look at http://oceanallover.blogspot.com/2010/04/testing-and-fitting.html     Irresistable. 

Great line up for Wigtown Spring Book Weekend - book now!

This year's Wigtown Spring Book Weekend  is subtitled 'A Sense of Place', and has a line-up which should get us all over to Scotland's National Booktown - book your tickets early!

Theresa Munoz will be talking on 'Tom Leonard's Glasgow', Carol Hill will explore whether 'A Woman's Place is in the Countryside', or whether a rural lifestyle may be holding us back (oh dear!) and, for sheer pleasure (with a touch of environmental urgency), I recommend Fiona Russell, Emma Strang and Dave Borthwick discussing 'The Tracks We Leave - People and Place'.
Children's events include a paper making workshop and talks from leading children's authors Alan Temperley, Simon Puttock and Lari Don.

The Swallow Theatre are proud to present a play by Murray Watts, 'Mr Darwin's Tree' in the evening.
To find out more about this great range of ideas to feed inquisitive minds at the Spring Book Weekend visit www.wigtownbookfestival.com .