Lmst

“Connection reaches into Rodge’s work not just as a responsibility, but through his writing method as well”

SNACK Magazine speaks to Rodge Glass about moving to Glasgow, first meeting Alasdair Gray, & his latest book Joshua in the Sky: A Blood Memoir

https://snackmag.co.uk/rodge-glass-looks-back-to-moving-to-glasgow-first-meeting-alasdair-gray-and-latest-novel-joshua-in-the-sky-a-blood-memoir-interview

#Scottish #literature #memoir #biography #lifewriting

And by the halie tree
In the leaman licht o the wuid,
Squired by a houlet, a hawk and a doo,
Wes his Euridikee…

—“Orpheus”, by Tom Scott (1918–1995)
from A KIST O SKINKLAN THINGS

https://asls.org.uk/publications/books/volumes/a-kist-o-skinlan-things/

#Scottish #literature #Scotstober #poem #poetry #Scots #Scotslanguage

Tom Scott
Orpheus

Ye think thon wes the end?
Yon meetin in the wuids
When Thracian Orpheus heard the drum, the cries,
The whud o the bacchantes’ thrangan feet
And, seik in saul,
Mad to be jyned for aye to his Eurydikee,
Strung his harp
And gaed to meet them wi a sang.
Ye think thon wes the end?

Na. Eftir the thrang breeled on, red
Fingert, bluidie-mawed, the riven limbs
Quiveran aye amang the mairtyred gress,
There wes a lull
And throu it syne a roun
And syne as muckle’s a moan
And syne a voice,
Yon voice o his
That quietit the forest and its fowk,
That reconcilit lion and lamb,
Ordert the rain,
Spoke frae the grund
And threept in the greitan tree
‘Euridikee! Euridikee!’

And at the name
A ferlie thing wes duin.
Thir broken bits o bodie, bits o bane,
Brisket, gash, airm and droukit hair
Cam thegither as gin some will
Mair nor the merely real
Had wrocht on them.
And on yon slauchtert grund was formed
Orpheus anew,
Orpheus the singer, Orpheus the makar,
Orpheus cleansed o the auld despair.
And by the halie tree
In the leaman licht o the wuid,
Squired by a houlet, a hawk and a doo,
Wes his Euridikee.

They say he made a new sang,
A nobler nor the auld,
And sings it aye in the great haa o the warld.

They say it will nevir end.

CFP: 18th International Conference on Medieval & Renaissance Scottish Language, Literature, & Culture
1–4 July, University of Bristol, UK

Proposals for papers invited that discuss any aspects of medieval & renaissance Scottish language, literature, & culture, & papers that reflect on these fields from different time periods, languages, & places

@litstudies

Deadline: 14 Nov 2025

https://icmrsllc2026.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/call-for-papers/

#Scottish #literature #language #Scotslanguage #Gaeilc #Gaidhlig #medieval #renaissance

Pathways to Research for Scots in Education
28 Oct, free online

A series of short presentations from current educators, sharing personal insights into teaching the Scots language & rethinking the role of the teacher. Following the talks, take part in an interactive Q&A session & help shape the future of Scots-focused educational research, exploring potential directions & opportunities

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/frlsu-webinar-pathways-to-research-for-scots-in-education-tickets-1764632787169

#Scottish #teachers #education #Scotslanguage #Scots #minoritylanguages

The reason, gin ye waant the truth,
I sleep like this – ma gairdie stieve
upon yer breist, its steekit nieve
laid on yer sma’ hert like an aith –

is no’ for waarmth or peace o’ mind
but that in ma dreams, ma dou,
I’m staunin here upricht, wi’ you
the lang sheld that I grue ahind.

—Don Paterson, “The Human Sheld”
published in RAIN (Faber 2010)

https://www.faber.co.uk/product/9780571251742-rain/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #Scotslanguage #Scots #Scotstober

The Human Sheld
by Don Paterson

The reason, gin ye waant the truth,
I sleep like this – ma gairdie stieve
upon yer breist, its steekit nieve
laid on yer sma’ hert like an aith –

is no’ for waarmth or peace o’ mind
but that in ma dreams, ma dou,
I’m staunin here upricht, wi’ you
the lang sheld that I grue ahind.

Well Versed Author Event: Imtiaz Dharker
15 Oct, online – free

A poetry reading & audience Q&A with Imtiaz Dharker, part of Open Book’s Well Versed series in partnership with StAnza International Poetry Festival

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/well-versed-author-event-imtiaz-dharker-tickets-1729406705009

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry

Videos from our 2025 Schools Conference are now online!

🎭 Donald S. Murray’s SEQUAMUR
📚 Four Scottish short stories
✍️ The poetry of Kathleen Jamie
🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 The National 5 Scottish poetry collection
🔖 New resources for the refreshed Scottish Set Texts

https://asls.org.uk/schools/conference-videos/schools-conference-2025/

#Scottish #literature #schools #National5 #Higher

The Maud Sulter Annual Lecture
31 October, Glasgow School of Art – free

Pratibha Parmar met Maud Sulter in the mid 1980’s when many outside the mainstream arts establishment were committed to growing a vibrant Black women’s arts movement. Parmar will talk about these foundational moments in dialogue with Sulter’s work & their reverberations today.

https://womenslibrary.org.uk/event/the-maud-sulter-annual-lecture-with-pratibha-palmar/

#Scottish #literature #poetry #photography #film #movingimage #art #MaudSulter #womensart #Blackwomen

Aifter the boombers cleck
and the sodgers traik thro the skau
there’s an auld air sterts up –
bubblin and greetin.

It’s a ballant mithers sing
on their hunkers i the stour
for a bairn deid.

They ken it by hert.

—Alastair Mackie, “Pietà”
published in The Golden Treasury of Scottish Verse, @canongatebooks, 2021

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #poem #poetry #warpoem #warpoetry

Pietà
Alastair Mackie

Her face was thrawed.
She wisna aa come.

In the trams o her airms
the wummin held oot her first bairn.
It micht hae been a mercat day
and him for sale.
Naebody stoppit tae niffer.

His life bluid cled his breast
wi a new reid semmit.
He’d hippens for deid claes.

Aifter the boombers cleck
and the sodgers traik thro the skau
there’s an auld air sterts up –
bubblin and greetin.

It’s a ballant mithers sing
on their hunkers i the stour
for a bairn deid.

They ken it by hert.

It’s the cauldest grue i the universe
yon skelloch.
It niver waukens the deid.

Noo Maunsie’s wis as guid a tongue
As ever psalm o’ Dauvid sung.
It fittit weel a godly mooth,
And said few wirds ’at wirna truth,
An’ never swöre by Guid or Deil
Excep’ whan kyunnens ate his kail…

—from “Auld Maunsie’s Crü” by B.R. Anderson (1861–1888), in Broken Lights: Poems & Reminiscences of the Late Basil Ramsay Anderson (1888) – republished in 2021 by Northus Shetland Classics

https://www.michaelwalmer.com/northus-shetland-classics/p/broken-lights-poems-and-reminiscences-of-basil-ramsay-anderson-introduced-by-robert-alan-jamieson

#Scottish #literature #Scots #Scotslanguage #Shetland #Scotstober #poem #poetry

Noo Maunsie’s wis as guid a tongue
As ever psalm o’ Dauvid sung.
It fittit weel a godly mooth,
And said few wirds ’at wirna truth,
An’ never swöre by Guid or Deil
Excep’ whan kyunnens ate his kail.

“Ending badly from the beginning”: facing finitude with Robert Louis Stevenson
8 October, University of Edinburgh & online – free

What does it mean to live – and to write – well, through experiences of illness and in the shadow of death? An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar from Dr Shari Sabeti

@litstudies

https://www.iash.ed.ac.uk/event/dr-shari-sabeti-‘ending-badly-beginning’-facing-finitude-robert-louis-stevenson

#Scottish #literature #RobertLouisStevenson #Samoa #illness #culturalstudies #death

Event date: Wednesday 8 October
Time: 13:00-14:00
Location: Seminar room, 2 Hope Park Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9NW

An IASH Work-in-Progress seminar, delivered by Dr Shari Sabeti (Sabbatical Fellow, 2025)

‘Ending badly from the beginning’: facing finitude with Robert Louis Stevenson.

What does it mean to live - and to write - well, through experiences of illness and in the shadow of death? Is death the end, or the beginning of relationships? This presentation considers these questions through an exploration of the life, work, and legacy of the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson. It focuses on his last years, as both exile and settler colonial, in Sāmoa, a Pacific island he had travelled to in search of health. Drawing on Barthes’ concepts of the punctum and biographeme, as well as writing on illness (Sontag, Frank), the chapter blends ethnographic fieldwork, literary and photographic analysis, elements of biography and personal reflection. It argues that Stevenson’s relationship with Sāmoa and Samoans continues through to the present day in oral histories, school songs, grave-site rituals, and community narratives that position him within specifically Sāmoan frameworks of care, kinship, and place.

In the latest Scots Whay Hae! podcast, Graeme Macrae Burnet discusses his new novella BENBECULA, the gothic tradition, how historical fiction speaks to the present day, & how BENBECULA links to HIS BLOODY PROJECT, Graeme’s Booker-shortlisted 2016 novel

@bookstodon

https://www.scotswhayhae.com/post/dark-isle-the-scots-whay-hae-podcast-talks-to-graeme-macrae-burnet

#Scottish #literature #gothic #historicalfiction #CrimeFiction

https://medium.com/@jeannetteaustin261/from-scotland-to-america-f936a3bea491 #scottish #irish #genealogy #georgiapioneers

This newspaper hoarding – hung by Tom Leonard here on his bookcase – was described by the author as

“the only ‘trophy’ I ever got for my poetry that continues to give me some pleasure, when I remember it.”

3/3

https://www.tomleonard.co.uk/journal/blog-march.html

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

would thi prisoner
in thi bar
please stand

fur thi aforesaid crime
uv writn anuthir poem
awarded the certificate of safety
by thi scottish education department …

—Tom Leonard, published in GHOSTIE MEN (Galloping Dog Press, 1980)

2/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

Tom Leonard
From GHOSTIE MEN

(7)

would thi prisoner
in thi bar
please stand

fur thi aforesaid crime
uv writn anuthir poem
awarded the certificate of safety
by thi scottish education department
fit tay be used in schools
huvn no bad language
sex subversion or antireligion
I hereby sentence you
tay six munths hard labour
doon thi poetry section
uv yir local library
coontn thi fuckin metaphors

BANNED BOOKS WEEK
5–11 October 2025

Tom Leonard’s 1984 poetry collection INTIMATE VOICES was banned in Scotland’s Central Region school libraries. The Education Committee said

“There are some harmful words in it … Sometimes the naked truth has to be clothed”

But Leonard had anticipated this sort of reaction…

1/3

#Scottish #literature #BannedBooksWeek #censorship #poem #poetry #TomLeonard

A pale green book cover. In the middle is a white rectangle. A large red stamp displays the book title: TOM LEONARD: INTIMATE VOICES: 1965–1983. Above the stamp is a poem, set as if typed on a typewriter:

in the beginning was the word
in thi beginning was thi wurd
in thi beginnin was thi wurd
in thi biginnin was thi wurd
n thi biginnin wuz thi wurd
nthi biginnin wuz thi wurd
nthi biginnin wuzthi wurd
nthibiginnin wuzthiwurd
nthibiginninwuzthiwurd
in the beginning was the sound

New College Festival of Books & Belief
7–8 November, Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh’s New College Festival of Books & Belief invites speakers & writers from the UK & beyond to explore the relationship between literature & all aspects of belief.

The fifth Festival will be held on 7–8 November 2025 – see link for programme

https://divinity.ed.ac.uk/new-college-festival/programme

#Scottish #literature #belief #religion

Love is all you need: Remembering The Kingis Quair

Alan Riach discusses The Kingis Quair – a poem attributed to King James I of Scots (1394–1437), & described by C.S. Lewis as “the first modern book of love”

https://www.thenational.scot/news/17372009.love-is-all-you-need-remembering-the-kings-quair/

#Scottish #literature #poem #poetry #lovepoetry #medieval #Scots #Scotslanguage #15thcentury #Scotstober

Jim Murphy makes millions through lobbying firm with #Labour links

Former #Scottish Labour leader Murphy made millions of pounds firm since #Starmer came to power

Before Starmer replaced Jeremy #Corbyn as Labour leader (October 2018), #Arden Strategies had £387 in bank & assets less than £2000

He had £3 million in bank & reported assets of £4.5m as of last October

https://www.thenational.scot/news/25518515.jim-murphy-makes-millions-lobbying-firm-labour-links/

#corruption #ToxicLabour #ToxicTories #ToxicReform #UK

#Scottish

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