Poetry Doubles this Monday!

Poetry Doubles this Monday 21st will bring you visiting poet Alan Riach and popular local bard Rab Wilson.

A friendly welcome and great poetry guaranteed! Tickets from the Midsteeple, call 01387 253383 or on the door at Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre.

Poetry Doubles Preview – Gerry Stewart and Andrew Forster

Penultimate in this year’s Poetry Doubles series is the promising combination of Gerry Stewart and Andrew Forster. This pairing forms a special Flambard Press event, as it is also the launch of two first collections from these poets based in Scotland.

Gerry Stewart declared she wanted to be an expatriate before she even knew what the word meant. She grew up in the United States and left Iowa when she was seventeen for Norway and Greece before settling in Scotland. She is a freelance creative writing tutor working with adults and children and editor of Grimalkin Press, producing books and pamphlets for the groups she works with. She received a Scottish Arts Council Award in 2005 to assist in the writing of her first novel Talking Italian in my Sleep. Her poetry has been widely published in magazines and anthologies in the UK and abroad.

Her collection “Post-Holiday Blues” is a traveller’s notebook made up of snapshots and souvenirs, sketching the poet’s journeys to Greece, Norway, Mexico and other destinations. Each of Gerry Stewart’s poems is an emotional landmark, anchoring places in memory. Her precise and poignant language distils and captures locations and experiences lost to time, giving them voices that bring the reader into the moment. There is a self-conscious quality to her poems, echoing an expatriate’s hesitance about their right to describe and participate in the culture of another country, but at the same time they revel in the beauty and thrill of the unfamiliar.

Andrew Forster is best known to Dumfries & Galloway as its Literature Development Officer at Dumfries & Galloway Arts Association (DGAA), and among his many activities is also the architect of the Poetry Doubles series. Jenny Wilson, Director of DGAA said, “DGAA is extraordinarily lucky in having a Literature Development officer who is himself a poet, and Andrew has a foot in each camp. That his first collection of poetry is published as a book now is a double celebration for us – he’s obviously succeeded in juggling the job and the creative life, and there’s a new collection from a very distinctive voice to read and enjoy. I feel it’s an achievement to celebrate, and I’m delighted we can do so with the Poetry Doubles reading.

Andrew’s first collection, “Fear of Thunder” asks us to consider our common experiences, from the father unable to shake a childhood fear to the woman dreaming of Australia. From the industrial South Yorkshire of the poet’s childhood to his adopted home of rural Scotland, via imaginative leaps to Spain, America, Germany and eighteenth-century rural England, these poems look at what makes us who we are. Andrew was singled out by the Scotsman as a “notable newcomer” at Stanza 2005.

This Poetry Doubles event will take place on Monday 8 October at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre at 7pm. Tickets cost £7/£5 and are available from Andrew Forster at DGAA on 01387 253383 or andrew@dgaa.net.

Poetry Doubles
Matthew Sweeney & Mike Smith
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre
Monday 24th September 7.00pm
Tickets £7.00 (£5.00 concession) from andrew@dgaa.net

Anyone who was at both the Poetry Doubles reading or the Masterclass last week knows what special events they were. Laura Helyer and George Szirtes took us to new and unexpected places, and the Masterclass was one of the sharpest and most helpful poetry sessions I've ever been present at. Those who brought their poems along went away with plenty of food for thought.
And there's more this week.
Surprise will be the order of the evening. Irish poet Matthew Sweeney comes to us to mark the publication of his new collection 'Black Moon'. Matthew's poems are surreal, strange and very beautiful. Cumbrian Mike Smith is a perfect accompaniment. One of the students on Dumfries very own MLitt course, at the GU Crichton Cvampus, Mike has a unique way of looking at the world.

Poetry Doubles

George Szirtes & Laura Helyer

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries

Monday 17th September 7.00pm

Tickets £7.00 (£5.00 concessions)

Poetry Doubles Masterclass with George Szirtes

Glasgow University Crichton Campus 10.ooam

Tickets £3.00 (Free when purchased with ticket for reading)

Tickets from Andrew Forster on 01387 253383 or andrew@dgaa.net

George Szirtes is one of the most acclaimed poets writing in Britain today. He has published 11 collections of poetry, and Bloodaxe will publish his ‘Collected Poems’ next year. He has won numerous awards, including the prestigious TS Eliot prize, the most acclaimed prize in poetry, for his 2005 collection ‘Reel’.

George was born in Hungary and moved to England as a refugee in 1956. His poetry explores both his Hungarian origins and his adopted English home.

George reads with Laura Helyer. Laura, who returned to Dumfries earlier this year after completing an MLitt in Creative Writing at the University of St Andrews, is one of the region’s brightest young voices. Laura was commended in last year’s Cardiff International Poetry Competition and was awarded a prestigious Donald Dewar Arts Award, granting her time for her writing. Whether her subject is the enviroment, art or her parents’ long marriage, Laura brings a quiet intelligence to bear on her poems.

Laura can also be heard on Saturday evening during the Dumfries Film Festival, reading poetry and prose to introduce the film ‘An Arctic Tale’ at the Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre on Saturday 15th September at 8.15pm.

The day after the Poetry Doubles reading George will run a Masterclass, looking in detail at selected participants’ poems. The date for submission has passed but there are still places in the audience if would-be poets are interested in the process of developing a poem.

What's On and Up


Poetry Doubles 2007

Jen Hadfield & Vivien Jones

Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre

Monday 3rd September 7.00pm

Tickets £7.00 (£5.00 concession) from andrew@dgaa.net




This week, Poetry Doubles welcomes one of Britain’s most exciting young poets. Jen Hadfield was born in Cheshire and spent time in Canada before moving to Shetland where she currently lives. She has won both an Eric Gregory award and a Donald Dewar Award for younger artists. Her first collection Almanacs was published by Bloodaxe Books in 2005 and she will follow this with a new collection, Nigh No Place, in February next year. She also won the Robert McLellan Poetry Competition last year, and came third in the second annual Wigtown Poetry Competition with her poem ‘Odysseus and the Sou’Wester’. Much of Jen’s first collection is inspired by Shetland, and her work has been described as a wild, imaginative road movie. She is also passionate about involving words with other art forms, and combines her poems with photography, lino cuts and woodwork in her artists’ books.


Jen shares the stage with Vivien Jones. Vivien is making a welcome return to Poetry Doubles, after taking part in the very first series back in 2004. Since that time her work has gone from strength to strength. She has published poems in numerous magazines and anthologies and, most recently, developed and performed in Making Waves, a sublime performance of poetry and music on a watery theme that took place at Broughton House in Kirkcudbright, and can also be seen during the Wigtown Festival. Vivien is also one of the driving forces behind the Crichton Writers, Dumfries and Galloway’s largest writers’ group. Her work is included in their new anthology, ‘Windfall’, featuring poems on the theme of gardens.

Poetry Doubles: Tom Leonard and Angus Macmillan

Monday 20th August, 7pm
Robert Burns Film Theatre, Dumfries


Following on from Daljit Nagra and Fiona Russell's wonderful start to the Poetry Doubles season at the Robert Burns Film Theatre, it's time to welcome Tom Leonard and Angus Macmillan for a not-to-be-missed night of poetry in Dumfries.

Tom Leonard is one of Scotland's most acclaimed poets. His inventiveness with spoken and written language has paved the way for a whole new generation of writers. His collections access to the silence and intimate voices are available from Etruscan Books.

Angus Macmillan makes a welcome return to Poetry Doubles with his dry wit and keen sense of place, reading poems in both English and Gaelic.

More on Poetry Doubles 2007 here:

Tickets £7.00 per reading (£5.00 concession – students and those in receipt of benefit). Special offer all eight readings for £49.00. Masterclass and workshops £3.00 each. Free if booked with ticket for appropriate reading. Full details and tickets from Andrew Forster 01387 253383 or andrew@dgaa.net.

Poetry Doubles - Daljit Nagra & Fiona Russell

Monday August 13th
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries

Welcome back to Poetry Doubles! Daljit Nagra and Fiona Russell launch the return of the acclaimed reading series, which pairs international poets with established and emerging writers from Dumfries & Galloway.

Daljit Nagra is one of poetry’s new young stars. He explores his Sikh Punjabi background in poetry that is both rich and funny, using a hybrid language that is part English, part Punjabi. His first collection ‘Look We Have Coming to Dover’ was published to great acclaim this year.

Fiona Russell's background in agriculture, conservation and scientific and natural history illustration greatly influence her writing. Her poems have been published in Markings, the journals of the John Muir Trust and Scottish Wildlife Trust, and in Crichton Writers anthologies.

Tickets £7 (£5) from DGAA on 01387 253383 or andrew@dgaa.net. More on Poetry Doubles 2007 here.

Poetry Doubles 2007

Announcing the return of one of the best series of poetry readings in Scotland... Poetry Doubles! We're proud to feature some the finest poets in Dumfries & Galloway reading alongside visiting writers with international reputations.

Monday 13th August 7.00pm
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
Daljit Nagra and Fiona Russell

Monday 20th August 7.00pm
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
Tom Leonard and Angus Macmillan

Monday 3rd September 7.00pm
Gracefield Arts Centre, Dumfries
Carola Luther & Jean Atkin

Plus, prior to the reading
Poetry Workshop with Carola Luther
2.30 –4.30 Georgetown Library

Monday 10th September 7.00pm
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
Jen Hadfield & Vivien Jones

Monday 17th September 7.00pm
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
George Szirtes & Laura Helyer

Plus Tuesday 18th September 10.00am – 12.00
Masterclass with George Szirtes
Submit your poem to be considered for inclusion as an e-mail attachment only by Friday 31st August. andrew@dgaa.net

Monday 24th September
Robert Burns Centre Film Theatre, Dumfries
Matthew Sweeney & Mike Smith

Monday 8th October
Flambard Press Special Event
Launch of debut collections from Gerry Stewart & Andrew Forster

Monday 15th October
Liz Lochhead & Hugh Bryden

Tickets £7.00 per reading (£5.00 concession – students and those in receipt of benefit). Special offer all eight readings for £49.00. Masterclass and workshops £3.00 each. Free if booked with ticket for appropriate reading. Full details and tickets from Andrew Forster 01387 253383 or andrew@dgaa.net.