Shore Poets OCTOBER: TOM POW, CHRISTINE DE LUCA, TAMMY ADAMS + DAVID HEAVENOR

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We’re back at the Outhouse bar this month, on Sunday 28th, for a vibrant and varied evening of poetry and music. We’re delighted to welcome Tom Pow as our headline poet. Alongside Christine de Luca and Tammy Adams, we’re in for an entertaining and lively evening.

Sunday 28 October 2018
7pm (doors open at 6.30pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)

LOOKING AHEAD:

Our Open Night will be on November 25th, when much of the evening is handed over to up-and-coming poets.

The signup period is now open. Please throw your name in the hat for two, 3-minute readings by email only to shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com by the end of the day on Saturday 10th November. We’re looking for ten poets and will select on a first-come-first-served basis.

MAIN POET: TOM POW

Tom Pow has written across a range of genres, including fiction, non-fiction, drama and works for children. But he is primarily a poet. His work explores the domestic, but it also travels to other places and other periods. Dear Alice, Narratives of Madness concerns the legacy of a nineteenth century lunatic asylum, while A Wild Adventure is a speculative poetic biography of Thomas Watling, a Dumfries forger transported to Botany Bay. In The Becoming, New and Selected Poems, was published in 2009 and Recolectores de Nueces, a bi-lingual selection of poems, translated by Jorge Fondebrider, was published in Mexico in 2016. He can be heard at The Poetry Archive. His most recent publication is Barefoot: the collected poems of Alastair Reid of which he was editor.

Credit: Sophie Kandaouroff

SHORE POET: CHRISTINE DE LUCA

Christine De Luca lives in Edinburgh.  She writes in English and Shetlandic, her mother tongue.  She was appointed Edinburgh’s Makar for 2014-2017.  Besides several children’s stories and one novel, she has had seven poetry collections and four bi-lingual volumes published (French, Italian, Icelandic and Norwegian).  She’s participated in many festivals here and abroad.  Her poems have been selected four times for the Best Scottish Poems of the Year (2006, 2010, 2013 and 2015) for the Scottish Poetry Library online anthologies and her pamphlet collection Dat Trickster Sun was short-listed for the Michael Marks pamphlet prize.  Paolozzi at Large in Edinburgh, co-edited with Carlo Pirozzi, is being launched at Blackwell’s on Thursday 31st – it includes new poems in English.

NEW POET: TAMMY ADAMS

Tammy lives in Dunbar and is a member of Tyne and Esk writers. She started writing poetry in 2014 and has seen poems published in The Interpreter’s House and on Lighten Up Online. She has also provided poems to no-poetry magazines The Scottish Planner and Full Potential, the magazine produced by Downs Syndrome Scotland. She was longlisted in this year’s Plough Poetry Prize and has previously been a top 10 finalist in a Poems on a Beermat competition. Some of her poems are inspired by her work as a town planner. Other spring from random thoughts or events. She loves writing poetry as a way to shoo words and worries out of her brain, and to bring a smile to people’s faces.

MUSICIAN: DAVID HEAVENOR

David Heavenor is a Scottish singer songwriter based in Edinburgh. He has produced six albums plus two EPs and can often be heard on BBC Radio Scotland’s Iain Anderson programme. ‘I’m Watching Rosanna’ was described as ‘an insightful song…. beautifully written and observed’ by Iain Anderson on BBC Radio. Ricky Ross, of Deacon Blue, named ‘Jenny & the Cold Caller’ as ‘one of the best songs ever written…’

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

We will have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

 Useful information:

If you would like to be notified of our monthly events, please follow this blog, by clicking the follow button in the corner. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

 

SHORE POETS SEPTEMBER: JOHN GLENDAY, JANE MCKIE, ALICE TARBUCK + DEKOY

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Shore Poets is back for a new season and, for this month, at a new, central location. We’re also trying out Wednesdays! Let us know what you think about both time and place. This month’s meeting will take place in the café-bar at Eden Locke at the west end of George Street. It’s a lovely venue, with delicious patisserie, great coffee, a full bar and comfy seating. Oh, and on September 26th, some great poets! We’re delighted to begin our 208-19 season with a reading from the brilliant John Glenday and do hope you can join us at –

  • Eden Locke
  • 127 George Street, EH2 4JN
  • Wednesday 26th September 2018
  • 7pm – 9pm

MAIN POET: JOHN GLENDAY

John Glenday is the author of four poetry collections. The Apple Ghost (Peterloo Poets, 1989) won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award and Undark, was a Poetry Book Society Recommendation for 1995. His third collection, Grain (Picador, 2009) was also a PBS Recommendation and shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award and the Griffin International Poetry Prize. His fourth collection, The Golden Mean, (Picador, 2015) won the Roehampton Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Saltire Scottish Poetry Book of the Year.

SHORE POET: JANE MCKIE

 

Jane McKie’s collections of poetry are Morocco Rococo (Cinnamon Press, 2007), When the Sun Turns Green (Polygon, 2009), and Kitsune (Cinnamon Press, 2015). In 2011 she won the Edwin Morgan poetry prize and published a pamphlet, Garden of Bedsteads, with Mariscat Press, a PBS Choice. Her most recent pamphlet is From the Wonder Book of Would You Believe It? (Mariscat Press, 2016). She has an academic background in Psychology, Anthropology, Philosophy and Literature, and is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh and an Advisor to the Edwin Morgan Trust.

NEW POET: ALICE TARBUCK

 

Alice Tarbuck is a writer and academic living in Edinburgh. Her first pamphlet, Grid, was published in spring by Sad Press. She has undertaken commissions for Timespan Festival in Helmsdale, and Scottish PEN. Her work has appeared in numerous journals and she is part of 12, a female poetry collective based in Edinburgh.

MUSICIANS: DEKOY

Dekoy is a local band – a beat combo – playing music mainly from the 50s and early 60s:  Buddy Holly, Everly Brothers, Fats Domino, Drifters, Jim Reeves, Hank Williams et al. The line-up is Roy Cook (vocals and guitar), Derek Copland (Fender stratocaster), Al Gray (electric bass) and Hamish Whyte (drums).

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We will have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

 

Shore Poets JUNE – Miriam Nash, Samuel Tongue, Kate Hendry + Graham Walker

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For our final event of the season, we’re delighted to welcome Miriam Nash and Samuel Tongue to Shore Poets. They’ll be joined by Graham Walker on saxophone. Please join us at The Outhouse on the last Sunday of June for a summer evening of poetry and jazz.

Sunday 24th June 2018, 7pm (doors open 6.30pm)

Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY

Admission: £5 (concessions £3)

Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

MAIN POET: MIRIAM NASH


Miriam Nash was born in Inverness and grew up in Scotland, England and Wales. Her first poetry collection, All the Prayers in the House, was published by Bloodaxe in 2017. She has performed her work internationally and brought poetry in schools, museums and prisons in the UK, USA and Singapore. Her collection won an Eric Gregory Award from the Society of Authors in 2015 and was runner-up in the Edwin Morgan Awards 2016. In 2014 she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to complete a MFA at Sarah Lawrence College in New York.

NEW POET: SAMUEL TONGUE


Samuel Tongue’s first pamphlet collection is Hauling-Out (Eyewear, 2016) and his second, stitch, is forthcoming with Tapsalteerie in June. Poems have featured in publications such as Blackbox Manifold, Compass, Envoi, Gutter, The Herald, Interpreter’s House, Magma, Northwords Now and The Scotsman, and the anthologies Be The First to Like This: New Scottish Poetry, Best New British and Irish Poets 2016 and the SPL’s Best Scottish Poems Anthology, 2016. Samuel held the Callan Gordon Award as part of the Scottish Book Trust New Writers Awards 2013. Samuel is currently co-editor (with Susie Maguire) of New Writing Scotland and teaches Religion, Literature, and Culture at the University of Glasgow.

SHORE POET: KATE HENDRY


Kate Hendry joined Shore Poets last year. Her pamphlet, The Lost Original, was published by Happenstance Press in 2016. Her poetry and short fiction has been published in various magazines, including Compass, Gutter, Mslexia, Harpers, New Writing Scotland, The Reader, Rialto, and The North, and anthologies, including Best British Short Stories 2016, Writing Motherhood and Scottish Cats. She has edited two collections of poems for the Scottish Poetry Library: Tools of the Trade for newly qualified doctors, and To Learn the Future, for teachers. She is herself, an English Teacher.

MUSICIAN: GRAHAM WALKER


Graham Walker is a tenor and soprano saxophonist from the Orkney Islands. Graham recently returned to Scotland after 35 years, the last 23 of which were spent in Belgium (home of the saxophone) where he played with many of the best Belgian jazz musicians.
Graham will perform a selection of tunes from the jazz repertoire, as well as more abstract improvisation.

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE
The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We should have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

See you on June 24th!

 

Shore Poets MAY – ALAN GILLIS, FRANK GLYNN, SARAH STEWART + ROB MACKILLOP

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For our May readings, we’re delighted to welcome two brilliant Edinburgh-based poets to Shore Poets – Alan Gillis and Sarah Stewart. They’ll be joined by Rob MacKillop, performing a world premier of The Manfred Suite by guitarist-composer, Gordon Ferries. Please join us on the last Sunday of the month for a great line up. If you’d like to read a poem alongside our trio of wonderful poets, please bring a poem with you and put your name in the hat at the door – we’ll pick a ‘wildcard’ poet to open the evening.

Sunday 27th May 2018
 7pm (doors open 6.30pm)

Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY

Admission: £5 (concessions £3)

Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

MAIN POET: ALAN GILLIS

Gillis Photo 2014

Alan Gillis is from Belfast and now lives in Scotland, where he teaches English at The University of Edinburgh. He has published four poetry collections with The Gallery Press: Scapegoat (2014), Here Comes the Night (2010), Hawks and Doves (2007) and Somebody, Somewhere (2004), which won the Strong Award for Best First Collection in Ireland. He has also been shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot prize, and for the Irish Times Poetry Now Award. In 2014 he was selected as a ‘Next Generation Poet’ by the Poetry Book Society in the UK. As a critic he is author of Irish Poetry of the 1930s (2005), and co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Modern Irish Poetry (2012), both published by Oxford University Press. From 2010-2015 he was editor of Edinburgh Review. A Selected Poems entitled Scapegoat and Other Poems was published in the USA by Wake Forest Press in 2016.

SHORE POET: FRANK GLYNN

FrankGlynn

Frank has been writing poetry and prose for many years, with several novels in his drawer. He plays violin and viola in several ensembles around Edinburgh, in The Whole Shebang, in Holm, and in the St Andrew Orchestra. He is the music facilitator for Shore Poets.

NEW POET: SARAH STEWART

SS shore poets

Sarah Stewart is a writer and editor based in Edinburgh. She was a UNESCO City of Literature Writer in Residence in Krakow in 2017, and her poetry has appeared in Anon, Gutter, The Honest Ulsterman, Mslexia, New Writing Dundee, The Pickle Jar, The Scotsman, and in the anthologies Be The First To Like This: New Scottish Poetry and Best Scottish Poems 2014. Her first pamphlet, Glisk, was published by Tapsalteerie this month.

MUSICIAN: ROB MACKILLOP

Guitar (25)

Rob MacKillop is guitar player with a wealth of experience in different styles and periods, from medieval Scottish music on lute, through to free improvisation on acoustic archtop guitar. For his visit to the Shore Poets he will be showcasing a new guitar (if it arrives from the luthier in time!), and will include a new improvisation based on the poetry readings he hears at the meeting. Rob will be playing a world premier of a specially commissioned piece by guitarist-composer, Gordon Ferries. It is a five-minute piece for classical guitar, based on the Byron play, Manfred.

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE
The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We should have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

See you on 27th May!

Useful information:
1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right here and fill in the few bits of information. This is usually only for event notifications and things like ‘looking for slam/open night participants’. You can unsubscribe anytime you want to, although we would be sad if you did.
2) Our email address (take out spaces on either side of the @) is shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com. Emails sent to any other email address go to the great rubbish bin in the virtual sky.

Shore Poets APRIL – OPEN NIGHT – sign up!

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Once again, it’s our Open Night!

Sunday 29 April 2018
7pm (doors open at 6.30pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)
Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

Yes, it’s our annual Open Night, where much of the event is handed over to up-and-coming poets.

The signup period is open until April 14th, so please throw your name in the hat for a 5-minute reading by emailing shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com by the end of the day on Saturday 14th April. [Please don’t use any other email address or leave a comment on a social media platform.] We’ll draw names from that hat and also create a reserve list in case of dropouts.

SHORE POET: ANGELA MCSEVENEY

Angela McSeveney became a Shore Poet in 2003 and Treasurer not long after. Her first collection of poems, Coming Out With It, was published in 1992, after she received advice and encouragement from fellow writers Liz Lochhead and Ron Butlin. She has since published three pamphlets, the most recent of which, Still Bristling, was published by Mariscat Press in 2012. She lives in Edinburgh.

MUSIC: ESPERI

Esperi is Scottish multi-instrumentalist Chris James Marr. His music ranges from acoustic storytelling to colourful electronica looping and combining different sounds with his acoustic guitar. He uses a host of instruments from the conventional to the unusual including his signature rainbow-coloured bells, toys, tools, samples (including his son Callum’s heartbeat which features in the song Somersaults which was released on the day he was born). Chris lives in East Coast Scotland and predominantly writes about his family, dogs, home and the great outdoors.

THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have books or CDs in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We will not have a wildcard spot this month.

See you on 29th April!

Useful information:

1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right Useful information:

1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right here and fill in the few bits of information. You can unsubscribe anytime you want to, although we would be sad if you did.

2) Our email address (take out spaces on either side of the @) is shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com. Emails sent to any other email address go to the great rubbish bin in the virtual sky.

3) Dates for your diary: the final Shore Poets events of the 2017-18 season will be 27th May and 24th June 2017.

 

Shore Poets FEBRUARY – WILLIAM HERSHAW, HAMISH WHYTE, TESSA BERRING + THE NORMANS

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Before we get on to this month’s event, a word about Sunday 29th April, which is our Open Night. If you’re interested in reading at Shore Poets, then throw your name in the hat for a 5-minute reading by emailing shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com by the end of the day on Saturday 14th April. [Please don’t use any other email address or leave a comment on a social media platform.] We’ll draw names from that hat and also create a reserve list in case of dropouts.

But first we have the March event! We have three fantastic, varied poets. Please join us this Sunday for a great line up –

Sunday 25th March 2018
7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)
Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

MAIN POET: WILLIAM HERSHAW

William Hershaw is a poet, playwright, folk musician and Scots Language activist. His Stars Are The Aizles – Selected Poems In Scots 1976-2016 was published in 2017 by The Neepheid Press. In the same year the Roncadora Press published Buirds featuring linocuts by Fiona Morton. He is the leader of The Bowhill Players, a musical and dramatic group who perform the works of Joe Corrie and other Fife based miner poets. In 2018 Grace Note Publications will publish The Sair Road, his Scots version of the Stations of the Cross. Other works by the author include: Tammy Norrie (novel); Postcairds Fae Woodwick Mill – Orkney Poems in Scots (poetry); The Tempest in Scots, Michael – A Ballad Play and Jennie Lee’s Homework Project (plays).

SHORE POET: HAMISH WHYTE

Hamish Whyte

Hamish Whyte was born near Glasgow where he lived before moving to Edinburgh in 2004. He has published several collections of poetry and edited many anthologies of Scottish literature and runs the award-winning Mariscat Press. He has worked as a librarian, indexer, bibliographer and crime fiction reviewer and is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He plays percussion with the band The Whole Shebang. He has published three collections of poems with Shoestring Press, most recently Things We Never Knew (2017). A new pamphlet of poems is due from HappenStance Press, called Now the Robin.

NEW POET: TESSA BERRING

Tessa Berring is interested in the shifting and often random relationships between the body, objects, language, and the creative process. She studied sculpture and drawing at Edinburgh College of Art, then turned her attention to words as they seemed a lighter/more flexible material to work with (and require far less studio space!). In her practice she regularly writes in tandem with visual artists, and enjoys how visual forms lend themselves to different styles of narrative. Recent work can be found in Adjacent Pineapple and Rialto Poetry. She also has a sequence of short poems ‘Paper, Dust, and Donkeys’ published by House of Three Press (Vol. 1), and a chapbook, Cut Glass and No Flowers by Dancing Girl Press. She is 1/12 of 12, a Scottish collective of women poets, who performed at StAnza poetry festival earlier this month.

MUSICIANS: THE NORMANS

The Normans (Norman: Normaunds; French: Normands; Latin: Normanni) were the people who, in the 10th and 11th centuries, gave their name to Normandy, a region in France. They were descended from Norse (“Norman” comes from “Norseman”) Vikings from Denmark, Iceland and Norway. This group isn’t them.

Based around the vocals of Norman Rodger (ex TV21), the Normans play an eclectic mix of songs, with an eclectic mix of musicians, sometimes several, sometimes just two or three. This gig sees a cut down version of the line-up, with just Norman on guitar and vocals, joined by Al Gray on bass guitar and Frank Glynn on fiddle, playing a short acoustic set.

It’ll be one in the eye for Harold!

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We should have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

See you on 25th March!

Useful information:

1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right here and fill in the few bits of information. This is usually only for event notifications and things like ‘looking for slam/open night participants’. You can unsubscribe anytime you want to, although we would be sad if you did.

2) Our email address (take out spaces on either side of the @) is shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com. Emails sent to any other email address go to the great rubbish bin in the virtual sky.

 

Shore Poets FEBRUARY – BRIAN MCCABE, MÀRTAINN MAC AN T-SAOIR (MARTIN MACINTYRE), KATE TOUGH, MIRIAM GAMBLE + THE WHOLE SHEBANG

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Join us for four exciting Scottish poets and the presentation of the annual Mark Ogle Memorial Award.  Mark was one of the very early Shore Poets but sadly he died relatively young.  Since then his family has provided an annual sum which we use to commission a poet to respond to one of Mark’s poems.  So, this month, we will have the pleasure of hearing Miriam Gamble, this year’s MOMA poet, read both a poem of Mark’s, Coastal Walk: Islay, and her response poem, Feldspar.

Sunday 25th February 2018
7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)
Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

MAIN POET: BRIAN McCABE

Brian McCabe has held various writing fellowships, including those at Edinburgh University and the University of St. Andrews and he was editor of Edinburgh Review 2005-2010. He was Royal Literary Fellow at Glasgow University 2010-2012 and 2014-2015. Currently he is a Lecturer in Creative Writing at Lancaster University.

He has published three collections of poetry, the most recent being Zero (Polygon, 2009). He has published one novel and five collections of short stories, the most recent being A Date With My Wife (Canongate). His Selected Stories was published by Argyll.

NEW POET: KATE TOUGH

Kate’s piece, People Made Glasgow, was selected as a Best Scottish Poem 2016 and her poetry pamphlet, tilt-shift, was Runner Up in the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award, 2017, and noted in The Bottle Imp’s Best Scottish Books, 2016, and the Times Literary Supplement’s notable pamphlets, 2017.

Her novel, Head for the Edge, Keep Walking has five stars on Amazon and is a library lending favourite.  Kate has received three Creative Scotland funding awards, for fiction and poetry, and held literature residencies at Cove Park, Vermont Studio Center and Outlandia.  She is a children’s literacy volunteer, and chairs book festival events.  She gained a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Glasgow and is completing a collection of short fiction.

SHORE POET: MÀRTAINN MAC AN T-SAOIR (MARTIN MACINTYRE)

Martin MacIntyre

Màrtainn Mac an t-Saoir (Martin Macintyre) and his family live in Edinburgh.   He has been an Edinburgh ‘Shore Poet’ since 2010.  He works as a medical doctor and a writer and is involved in a number of Gaelic initiatives in the city.  He was brought up in Lenzie near Glasgow, his father being originally from South Uist.

He is an author, bard and storyteller and has worked across these genres for many years now.  His early poetry was published in Let Me Dance With Your Shadow in 2006, and in 2007 he was crowned ‘Bard’ by An Comunn Gàidhealach.  He has been interested in Gaelic songs and singing for many years and has competed at various National Mods and reached the final on a number of occasions including 2017.

Besides his poetry and two novels he has written two collections of short stories: the first in 2003, Ath-Aithne (Re-acquaintance) – soon to be translated into French – won The Saltire Society First Book Award; while his latest collection, Cala Bendita ’s a Bheannachdan (Cala Bendita and its Blessings), was shortlisted for both The Donald Meek Award and The Saltire Literary Book of The Year in 2014.

He is currently writing a new novel and new collection of poetry and will appear at Stanza 2018.

MOMA POET: MIRIAM GAMBLE

Miriam was chosen as the Mark Ogle Memorial Award poet for 2018, and will be reading her response to one of Mark’s poems. See the MOMA page for more information. Miriam was born in Brussels in 1980 and grew up in Belfast. She studied at Oxford and at Queen’s University Belfast, where she completed a PhD in contemporary British and Irish poetry; she now lectures in creative writing at the University of Edinburgh.

She won an Eric Gregory Award in 2007, and the Ireland Chair of Poetry Bursary Award in 2010. Her pamphlet, This Man’s Town, was published by tall-lighthouse in 2007. Her two collections, The Squirrels Are Dead and Pirate Music were published by Bloodaxe Books, in 2010 and 2014. Squirrels won her a Somerset Maugham Award in 2011.

MUSICIANS: THE WHOLE SHEBANG

The Whole Shebang is an Edinburgh-based collective, formed in 2011, who play good-time music, from show tunes and standards through blues, country and western to contemporary pop.

The full line-up is: Kerry Houston (vocals), Fiona Shivas (vocals), Gail Turpin (vocals), Frank Glynn (fiddle and viola), Doug Govan (guitar and ukelele), Al Gray (bass), Bill Haddow (mandolin), and Hamish Whyte (percussion). They don’t have a website, but do go visit and follow their Facebook page.

AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, and of course provides one lucky winner with an excellent lemon cake. We will not be having a wildcard spot, though, as we are bursting with poetry.

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We should have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

See you on 25th February!

Useful information:

1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right here and fill in the few bits of information. This is usually only for event notifications and things like ‘looking for slam/open night participants’. You can unsubscribe anytime you want to, although we would be sad if you did.

2) Our email address (take out spaces on either side of the @) is shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com. Emails sent to any other email address go to the great rubbish bin in the virtual sky.

 

Shore Poets JANUARY – Patrick Errington, Ian McDonough, Peter Manson + Holm

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January is traditionally the month for poetry in Scotland and we’re sure you’ve been reading your Burns, celebrating his life and works by eating haggis, drinking whisky and toasting the lassies (not literally in front of the fire, we hope). So, why not finish the month with some contemporary Scottish poetry? Shore Poets meet for the first time this year on January 28th and we hope you can join us. In fact, you could say January is going from Bard to verse (sorry!).

Sunday 28th January 2018
7pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)
Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

MAIN POET: PETER MANSON

Manson, Peter by Tom Raworth

Photo gratefully borrowed from the Scottish Poetry Library website. Photo credit: Tom Raworth

Peter Manson (born Glasgow, 1969) is a poet and translator of poetry.  His books include English in Mallarmé (Blart Books), Poems of Frank Rupture (Sancho Panza Press),  Adjunct: an Undigest and For the Good of Liars (both from Barque Press), and Between Cup and Lip (Miami University Press, Ohio).  Miami UP also publish his book of translations, Stéphane Mallarmé: The Poems in Verse.

 

NEW POET:  PATRICK ERRINGTON

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Photo credit: PJ Errington

Patrick James Errington’s poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Best New Poets, Boston Review, The Cincinnati Review, and Oxford Poetry, and have won or been commended for several international competitions, such as the Wigtown, The London Magazine, the McLellan, and The National Poetry Competitions. His French translation of PJ Harvey’s The Hollow of the Hand was published in 2017 by Éditions l’Âge d’Homme and a chapbook of his own poems will be available from ignitionpress in February. Originally from Alberta, Canada, Patrick currently lives in Edinburgh and is a PhD student at the University of St Andrews. You can find out more about his work on his website: http://pjerrington.com/

 

SHORE POET: IAN MCDONOUGH

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Ian McDonough was brought up in Brora on the East Coast of Sutherland. He has published four collections of poetry, most recently A Witch Among the Gooseberries published by Mariscat in 2014. His work has appeared widely, including Poetry Review, Times Educational Supplement, Physics Review, New Writing Scotland and The Scotsman.  A member of Shore Poets, Ian lives in Edinburgh with his partner and daughter. When not writing he works as a mediator and trainer.

 

MUSICIANS: HOLM

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Holm are Stewart Veitch (guitar) and Shore Poet, Frank Glynn (violin/viola). Holm play music that is a wordless mix of their own compositions alongside music by Hildegaard of Bingen, Charlie Haden, Manuel de Falla, Tomasz Stanko, Henry Purcell and others. Their style is cinematic, with more than a nod to Scandi-noir.

 

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We should have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

See you on 28th January!

Useful information:

1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right here and fill in the few bits of information. This is usually only for event notifications and things like ‘looking for slam/open night participants’. You can unsubscribe anytime you want to, although we would be sad if you did.

2) Our email address (take out spaces on either side of the @) is shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com. Emails sent to any other email address go to the great rubbish bin in the virtual sky.

Shore Poets NOVEMBER – Valerie Gillies, Christine De Luca, Tim Craven + Sandy Brechin

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Sunday 26th November 2017, 7 pm (doors open 6.30pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane, Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)
Please be there in plenty of time to get a seat. Unfortunately, fire regulations mean we have to turn people away if the room becomes overcrowded.

Please join us for an entertaining evening of poetry and music at the last Shore Poets of 2017. We have a fantastic line-up of three Edinburgh poets, two of the city’s previous makars, plus an up-and-coming talent. We’re also excited to welcome one of Scotland’s best known accordionists to provide sensational musical interludes.

NEW POET: TIM CRAVEN

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Tim Craven – originally from Stoke-on-Trent – is currently completing a PhD in Creative Writing at Edinburgh University under the supervision of our own Shore Poet Jane McKie and Miriam Gamble. He has an MFA from Syracuse University (USA). He won the Grierson Poetry Prize this year and was the winner of the last but one Shore Poets Quiet Slam. He has been widely published in magazines and hopes to have a collection out soon.

 

SHORE POET: CHRISTINE DE LUCA

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Christine De Luca – born and brought up in Shetland but has lived in Edinburgh for many years (with frequent visits north). She writes in both English and her native Shetlandic. She has just retired as Edinburgh’s Makar (Poet Laureate) after an incredibly busy three and a half years – but shows no sign of slowing down – she seems as busy as ever, reading at festivals all over Europe and beyond. She has had six collections of poems published. A recent pamphlet, Dat Trickster Sun (Mariscat Press) was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Poetry Award and her latest collection, just out, is Edinburgh: Singing the City, published by the Saltire Society and bringing together poems written during her Makarship. Her first novel came out in 2011 and she has collaborated with both jazz and traditional musicians. She is a long-time member of Shore Poets and a real (and much-loved) driving force behind the group.

 

GUEST POET: VALERIE GILLIES

Gillies, Valerie

Valerie Gillies is one of Scotland’s most distinguished poets. She was born in Canada but brought up in Scotland. She has had nine collections of poetry published, the most recent being The Cream of the Well: New and Selected Poems (Luath 2015) and has often worked with artists and musicians. Her early writing was encouraged by Norman MacCaig. Her concerns include Scottish identity and history, often interwoven with nature and environment: the interconnectedness of things. ‘She has worked to disseminate poetry in many forms – written, oral and visual – so that it is a presence in the everyday life of the Scottish people’ (Professor Laura Severin, North Carolina State University). She was Edinburgh’s second Makar, succeeding Stewart Conn, and serving 2005-8.

 

MUSICIAN: SANDY BRECHIN

Photo by Arne von Brill

Sandy Brechin is one of Scotland’s most famous accordion players, as well as a respected teacher, composer, producer and record label owner.
He has been playing (the same accordion!) for forty years, having toured every continent in the world with various bands during that time. He has recorded on over a hundred albums, as well as releasing a book of his own compositions and two teaching DVDs. Twenty years ago, he set up his own label, Brechin All Records, which is now firmly established as a leading independent Scottish folk retailer.
In recent weeks, Sandy has been touring in Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands, where his lightning fast fingering and irreverent sense of humour ensure packed out venues.
This December, Sandy will be performing in Princes St Gardens for Edinburgh’s Hogmanay, as he has done for most of the last twenty years, with his hugely popular ceilidh band for the massive outdoor ‘Ceilidh Under the Castle’ for 3,500 people.

 

WILDCARD SPOT AND THE LEMON CAKE RAFFLE

The lemon cake raffle provides us with much-needed funds, so we very much appreciate your support. And it is a most excellent lemon cake. (Occasionally, we also have poetry books in the raffle, and are very grateful to the donors thereof.)

We will have a wildcard spot this month. Please mention to the person selling tickets that you’d like to put your name in the hat (ideally we will ask you, but sometimes we forget to ask and then we feel sad once we remember our omission). Bring a poem to read in case you’re chosen! You’ll have three minutes (this includes any preamble or introduction – it’s a good idea to time yourself in advance to make sure you’re within the time limits).

Useful information:

1) we have a mailing list, and if you haven’t signed up yet, here’s your chance: just click right here and fill in the few bits of information. This is usually only for event notifications and things like ‘looking for slam/open night participants’. You can unsubscribe anytime you want to, although we would be sad if you did.

2) Our email address (take out spaces on either side of the @) is shorepoetsedinburgh @ gmail.com. Emails sent to any other email address go to the great rubbish bin in the virtual sky.

 

 

Shore Poets OCTOBER – Quiet Slam

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Sunday 29th October 2017
7pm (doors open 630pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane,
Edinburgh, EH1 3LY
Admission: £5 (concessions £3)

We had our last Quiet Slam in January, but thanks to some shifting around of the Shore Poets calendar, this year’s slam will be happening in October!

Ten poets will entertain you, but they will also be judged and there can only be one winner.

We are still looking for slammers, and the sign-up deadline has been extended to 8pm on Friday 20 October. Please email Tracey at writingmostly at gmail.com if you wish to throw your name in the hat. This is the only method of signing up (so please, no comments on this entry, carrier pigeons sent to Shore Poets Towers, etc.).

What’s the format?
Each of our ten poets will perform twice. We’ll have a first round, in which each poet will read for 2 minutes. After a break, there’ll be a second round, and each poet will read again – this time for 2.5 minutes. This gives each poet two chances to wow our judging panel and entertain you, our audience! The three highest-scoring poets will go into a final, where they’ll read for three whole minutes. The winner of the slam will read one final poem.

We’ll also have our usual lovely music and our raffle, so you’ll still get the chance to win the infamous lemon cake and support Shore Poets. (Thank you for your support.) There might be a feature poet as well, though last year’s winner, Tim Craven, will not be performing – he should be coming up later in the year, though, so do look out for him.

What’s a quiet slam?
A quiet slam is a competitive poetry event where loudness is not necessarily a virtue. (Have you been to a not-quiet slam? It is usually very loud. We don’t mind loudness, but we like to offer something different.) Participants won’t be marked down for speaking softly, reading from paper, or being nervous. We also like to encourage new slammers to take part. Finally, judges will score participants on the quality of their poem and the quality of their performance, not for the loudness of the audience response. Some poems just don’t lend themselves to whooping, you know?

MUSICIANS: Cantabile

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John Mortimer with the vocal group Cantabile will present some of his new compositions, including works which use words written by members of Shore Poets (Diana Hendry, Hamish Whyte and Frank Glynn). The presentation will illustrate the contrasting challenges faced by composers setting metrical and free verse, and also the reverse, i.e. fitting words to an existing melody.

We hope to see you at our Quiet Slam! Those details again:

Sunday 29th October 2017
7pm (doors open 630pm)
Oh! Outhouse, 12a Broughton Street Lane,
Edinburgh, EH1 3LY