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  The Bacchanal Currently on BBC Sounds: a new short work by Helen McClory Two friends embark upon a festival promising a wild and soulful escape from the daily grinds of modern life, only to be met by ominous forces and unsettling spaces, corrupting the supposed utopia they initially sought to find. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002g534 #Scottish #literature #shortfiction

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  Jessie Kesson (1916–1994) was born #OTD, 28 Oct. Taken from her mother at 10, she spent 6 years in an orphanage; although she displayed obvious academic talent she was denied any chance of further education & was sent into domestic servitude aged 16. Despite these & other hardships she became a highly regarded writer whose works explore ordinary women’s lives with clarity & poetic prose A 🎂🧵 1/8 https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/9964/jessie-kesson-nov...

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  Poet, writer, artist, & avant-gardener Ian Hamilton Finlay (1925–2006) was born #OTD, 28 Oct, in Nassau, Bahamas – a fact which he would later describe as “ridiculous, not in character at all”. His father was a bootlegger, smuggling rum to the USA, & Finlay was sent, aged 6, to Larchfield, a boarding school in Helensburgh, Scotland, where WH Auden had recently joined the staff A 🎂🧵 1/7 #Scottish #literature #poetry #visualart #gardening #sculpture #IanHamiltonFinlay

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  16 October is World Food Day, & 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘐𝘮𝘱 invites you to an all-you-can-eat literary feast of Scottish literature – from medieval health food to vegetarianism in contemporary fiction, via gender, folklore, oysters, cocktails & more! May contain nuts. 1/6 https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2024/11/cooking-the-books/ #Scottish #literature #cooking #food #WorldFoodDay

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  Acknowledging Agnes Owens A recording from the opening event of the Byres Road Book Festival celebrating the work, influence and lasting legacy of acclaimed Scottish writer Agnes Owens. Hosted by Dani Garavelli with Kirstin Innes, Chitra Ramaswamy, and William Letford. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erf36ms0uT0 #Scottish #literature #AgnesOwens #20thcentury #womenwriters #workingclass #workingclasswriters

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  Somewhere along this street, unknown to me, behind a maze of apple trees and stars, he rises in the small hours, finds a book and settles at a window or a desk to see the morning in, alone for once, unnamed, unburdened, happy in himself… —John Burnside, “The Good Neighbour” published in DRIFTWORK (Cape, 2026) https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/481482/driftwork-by-burnside-john/9781787336667 #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Burnside #JohnBurnside

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  My father passed with his penny letters Through closes opening and shutting like legends When barbarous with gulls Hamnavoe’s morning broke… —“Hamnavoe”, by George Mackay Brown (1921–1996) – born #OTD, 17 Oct “I have never seen his poetry sufficiently praised.” —Seamus Heaney A 🎂 🧵 You can listen to George Mackay Brown read his poem “Hamnavoe” online via the Poetry Archive 1/10 https://poetryarchive.org/poem/hamnavoe/ #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Orkney #20thcentury #GeorgeMackayB...

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  “I have a harmonium and it’s going to explode in two minutes” Ivor Cutler (1923–2006) – poet, singer, musician, songwriter, artist, humorist – was born #OTD, 15 Jan In 2013, to mark what would have been his 90th birthday, BBC Radio 4 celebrated his life & career: 1/7 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0381jzt #Scottish #literature #poetry #music #humour #surrealism #absurdist #IvorCutler

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  My seventy-seven-year-old father put his reading glasses on to help my mother do the buttons on the back of her dress… —Jackie Kay, “George Square” published in LIFE MASK (Bloodaxe, 2005) Today, 21 September, is the International Day of Peace https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace #Scottish #literature #peace #poem #poetry #InternationalDayofPeace

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  I love all films that start with rain: rain, braiding a windowpane or darkening a hung-out dress or streaming down her upturned face… —Don Paterson, “Rain” Published in RAIN (Faber, 2010) A poem for World Rain Day 🌧️ https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571251742-rain/ #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #rain #WorldRainDay

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  “In 1990, the UK CWA issued a list titled ‘The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time.’ Number one on the list was THE DAUGHTER OF TIME by Josephine Tey. It was a good call then, it’d still be a good call now.” Josephine Tey (1896–1952) was born #OTD, 25 July – a 🎂 🧵 @bookstodon@a.gup.pe 1/7 https://crimereads.com/josephine-tey-a-crime-readers-guide-to-the-classics/ #Scottish #literature #crimefiction #womenwriters #20thcentury #JosephineTey

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  Come to Where I Am 11 Aug, Edinburgh. £15 / pay what you can A special one-off new writing showcase presented by Paines Plough in association with Playwrights’ Studio Scotland Three Scottish playwrights – Uma Nada-Rajah, Hannah Lavery, & Linda McLean – present monologues about the places & people that shape them https://bookings.shedinburgh.com/event/9854:106/9854:143/ #Scottish #literature #drama #theatre #playwright

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  She’s goat her legs oot – her foldin plastic chair oan the gress at Glesga Green – an her airms an enough creamy dimpled bosom tae please Renoir… —Sheila Templeton, “Glesga Fair” published in Songs of Other Places: New Writing Scotland 32 (ASL, 2014) The Glasgow Fair is a holiday dating back to the 12th century CE. Happy Fair Weekend to all the Glasgow Fairies! #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Glasgow #GlasgowFair

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  “…on one occasion the Highland Queen was berthed by the master and a boy, the rest of the crew being quite incapable…” In this blog post, Donald Meek explores the origins of the terms, common to Scots & Gaelic: “steaming drunk” & “smùid” https://meekwrite.blogspot.com/2013/04/maritime-and-linguistic-studies.html #Scottish #literature #Glasgow #GlasgowFair #DoontheWatter #Scots #Scotslanguage #Gaidhlig #Gaelic #boozecruise

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  jack an jill went up thi hull “tay huv a wee refreshmint” guess whut —published in Tom Leonard’s INTIMATE VOICES 1965–1983 (Galloping Dog Press, 1984) #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #Glasgow #GlasgowFair #KeepTheHeid

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  Belle Stewart (1906–1997) – singer, storyteller, tradition-bearer – was born #OTD, 18 July, in a bow tent on the banks of the Tay at Caputh, near Blairgowrie. She ranks alongside Jeannie Robertson in the roll of the finest Scots ballad-singers. 1/2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0sMwlevTMU #Scottish #literature #travellers #folklore #folksong

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  Argyll & Isles Online Heritage Cafe with Dr Alasdair Whyte 29 July, free online The July online Heritage cafe will host Dr Alasdair Whyte, singer, writer & research fellow in Celtic & Gaelic at the University of Glasgow. Dr Whyte will be speaking about the songs & music of Argyll & Bute, & how they can help us understand the history & heritage of this part of Scotland. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/july-argyll-isles-online-heritage-cafe-w...

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  Edinburgh Poetry Tours Various dates in August, Edinburgh. Pay-what-you-can tickets, from £4.50 Poet Ken Cockburn presents, on & around the Royal Mile, an Edinburgh alive with literature. If you’re new to Edinburgh you’ll see some key sights, & if you know the city you’ll experience it afresh by slowing down & listening to the words of poets writing across the centuries. https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/embro #Scottish #literature #poetry #Edinburgh

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  Laid-back in orbit, they found their minds. They found their minds were very clean and clear. Clear crystals in swarms outside were their fireflies and larks. Larks they were in lift-off, swallows in soaring… —Edwin Morgan, “A Home in Space” from CENTENARY SELECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 2020) #OTD, 20 July, 1969, Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781784109967/centenary-selected-poems/ #Scottish #literature #MoonLanding #MoonLandingDay #poem #poetr...

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  20 July is World Chess Day! ♟️ Episode 2 of the Alasdair Gray Archive’s UNLIKELY OBJECTS MOSTLY looks at Alasdair Gray’s chessboard & the part #chess played in his practice, uncovering its role in the making of his Hillhead Subway mural & the novel POOR THINGS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vbB7OeYkeo #Scottish #literature #AlasdairGray #art #mural #visualart #chess #WorldChessDay

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  Is there a whim-inspired fool, Owre fast for thought, owre hot for rule, Owre blate to seek, owre proud to snool, Let him draw near… Robert Burns (1759–96) died #OTD, 21 July, aged 37. “A Bard’s Epitaph” is the final poem in the 1786 Kilmarnock Edition of Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect 1/4 #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage #RobertBurns #18thcentury #romanticism

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  Scotland’s a sense of change, an endless becoming for which there was never a kind of wholeness or ultimate category. Scotland’s an attitude of mind. —“Speaking of Scotland” by Maurice Lindsay (1918–2009) – born #OTD, 21 July Published in COLLECTED POEMS 1940–1990 (AUP 1990) 1/2 #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #20thcentury #Scotland #ScottishIdentity

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  Happy World Snake Day – 16 July – to all who celebrate. Here’s Edwin Morgan’s “Siesta of a Hungarian Snake”, published in COLLECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 1990) 🐍 https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781857541885/collected-poems/ #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #EdwinMorgan #snakes #snake #WorldSnakeDay

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  Cinquevalli in sepia looks at me from an old postcard: bundle of enigmas. Half faun, half military man… —Edwin Morgan, “Cinquevalli” published in COLLECTED POEMS (Carcanet, 1990) Paul Cinquevalli (1859–1918) died #OTD, 14 July https://www.carcanet.co.uk/9781857541885/collected-poems/ #Scottish #literature #EdwinMorgan #poem #poetry #19thcentury #Victorian #Edwardian #circus #juggling #Cinquevalli

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  Poets are Liars “if poetry genuinely is a truth-telling and poets truth-tellers, it seems important to demonstrate that what we do is falsifiable. What on earth would it mean to ‘lie’ in a poem?” —Don Paterson on poetry, philosophy, & lies https://northseapoets.substack.com/p/poets-are-liars #Scottish #literature #poetry #poetictruth #truth #DonPaterson #philosophy

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  “I mean, your society’s broken, so who should we blame? Should we blame the rich, powerful people who caused it? No let’s blame the people with no power & no money & these immigrants who don’t even have the vote, yeah it must be their fucking fault.” —Iain Banks died #OTD, 9 June, 2013 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/jun/15/iain-banks-the-final-interview #Scottish #literature #IainBanks #IainMBanks

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  “Our Three-Voiced Country”: 20th-century cross-currents in Gaelic & other Scottish writing 26–28 June, Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Skye This conference will examine the shared influences & interconnections between Gaelic & other Scottish writing, from the Celtic Revival & the Scottish Renaissance to the beginnings of the new millennium @litstudies https://www.smo.uhi.ac.uk/co-labhairt-bhliadhnail-asl-2026/?lang=en #Scottish #literature #20thcentury #conference #Gaidhl...

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  “It looks as if a Man could Toot himself to Heaven upon the Whore of Babylon’s Bagpipes” —how 18th-century English satirists used bagpipes to signify Jacobitism & Catholicism, & the threat to the Establishment 🎵 10 March is International Bagpipe Day! A 🎶🧵 1/6 https://www.thebottleimp.org.uk/2013/05/the-scottish-bagpipe-political-and-religious-symbolism-in-english-literature-and-satire/ #Scotland #Scottish #music #history #culture #bagpipes #InternationalBagpipeDay #18thcent...

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  “Barrie was a wounded creature, from his earliest youth, and his probing of that wound is what makes PETER PAN so enduringly painful to read […] The tensions are bald and excruciating.” A 🎂 🧵 for JM Barrie (1860–1937) – born #OTD, 9 May 1/10 https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2004/11/22/lost-boys #Scottish #literature #JMBarrie #kidlit #ChildrensLiterature #PeterPan

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  Higher than the craw-stepped gables of our institutes – chess-clubs, fanciers, reels & Strathspeys – the old kingdom of lum, with crowns agley… —Kathleen Jamie, “The Republic of Fife” first published in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (Bloodaxe, 1994) Today, 9 May, is Europe Day 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🇪🇺 https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/kathleen-jamie/selected-poems/9781509882953 #Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Fife