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 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 25^th 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.

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)

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 25^th 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.

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

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

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

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

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 28^th 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.

Sunday 26^th 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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

We’re back! The first Shore Poets event of the 2017-18 season is approaching and we’d love you to join us! Please come along and help us launch this year’s line-up.

Sunday 24th September 2017

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: JAMES McGONIGAL

James McGonigal is a poet, editor and translator. He has published on modernist poetry and on Scottish and Irish literature, as well as four pamphlet collections. Cloud Pibroch (Mariscat Press, 2010) won the Michael Marks Poetry Pamphlet Award. His most recent collection is The Camphill Wren (Red Squirrel Press, 2016). A friend and literary executor of Edwin Morgan, he wrote Beyond the Last Dragon: A Life of Edwin Morgan (Sandstone Press, 2012), and co-edited The Midnight Letterbox, a selection of his correspondence 1950–2010 (Carcanet Press, 2015). His website www.jamesmcgonigal.com gives samples of his work.

NEW POET: VICKI HUSBAND

Vicki Husband’s first collection of poetry, This Far Back Everything Shimmers, was published by Vagabond Voices in 2016 and shortlisted for the Saltire Society Best Scottish Poetry Book of 2016. Vicki’s poetry reading highlights include StAnza International Poetry Festival, Lahore Literary Festival and Airdrie Observatory.

SHORE POET: JANE MCKIE

Jane McKie’s first collection, Morocco Rococo (Cinnamon Press), was awarded the 2008 Sundial/Scottish Arts Council prize for best first book of 2007. Her other publications include When the Sun Turns Green (Polygon, 2009), and Garden of Bedsteads (Mariscat, 2011), which was a Poetry Book Society pamphlet choice. She teaches Creative Writing at the University of Edinburgh.

MUSICIANS: TRIBAISER

Tribaiser are Fraser Sharp, Kyle Kinnear and Jack Lodge, playing keyboards, drums and trombone; three students who have emerged from the increasingly successful music programme at Heriot Watt University, who have just completed a very successful Highland tour with the Heriot Watt Jazz band. ‎

They play early standards to contemporary jazz. ‎Fraser played a superb set at their last Shore poets outing, and we are looking forward to ‎welcoming him back with some new friends.

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).

LOOKING AHEAD:

Our Quiet Slam this year takes place on Sunday 29 October! A quiet slam is a competitive poetry event where loudness is not necessarily a virtue. Participants won’t be marked down for speaking softly or reading from paper. We also like to encourage new slammers to take part. Full details will be posted next month, and the throwing-your-name-in-the-hat deadline will be 15 October. If you already know that you want to throw your name in the hat (or you have any questions in the meantime), please email Tracey at writingmostly at gmail.com with the words ‘Quiet Slam’ somewhere in the subject line.

Meanwhile, see you on 24^th September!

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.