There is something uniquely cold and shrivelling about closing down libraries. Closing libraries is a retrograde step - in Scotland, a country so proud of its education and literature - we should be opening them! A poem by Dylan Thomas:

7:84’s Cheviot has lost little of its power since it first toured in late April 1973, nigh on fifty years ago youtu.be/rmOBSMnfG-0

It’s 50 years tomorrow since Aberdeen Arts Centre was the venue for the first production of John McGrath’s “The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black Black Oil”. Not many plays earn mythic status, but this work’s message is just as relevant as in 1973! youtu.be/BwWzRK0tefQ

Thank you surrogate for bringing a condensed and moving interrogation of political power, class, and masculinity, Who Killed My Father, to Byre Theatre this evening -- catch it around Scotland till the end of May

One of my poems which has found a home in Interpret is "On Finding Photographs of Water"

I scribbled a wee poem for children in response to some of Annie Leverton's linocuts and it'll be taking off soon on The Dirigible Balloon 🎈 Baloon🎈 Keep an eye out for hedgehogs🦔

🎈🦔🎈 And here it is -- 'Oblivious, the Hedgehog' -- floating up in The Dirigible Balloon 🎈 with a whole host of fellow passengers dirigibleballoon.org/poem/Oblivious…

Here's a Friday night kind of a poem from the latest Interpret which will be getting it's heid wetted Golden Hare Books on Monday -- join if you can! goldenharebooks.com/products/inter…

See you tonight Golden Hare Books for the launch of Interpret 9! With readings from... Alyson Kissner Rebecca Ferrier Michael Grieve Gabrielle 美瑩 Book online or at the bookshop!

Here’s one from last week’s launch of Interpret 9 at Golden Hare Books ! Thank you to everyone for coming and, of course, to our fantastic readers. Subscribe to Interpret today @ bit.ly/3m1Y0ap! #poetry #poetrymagazine #Edinburgh #Internationalpoetry #authorreading

it's summer baby

The first two volumes of the Complete Works of William Soutar, a major figure in Scottish literature who played a significant role in the early twentieth-century Scottish Literary Renaissance. He has been described as, ‘one of the greatest poets Scotland has produced’.

I'll be hot footing it to Edinburgh on a school night for this - be great to see folk there

Looking forward to finally digging into @EmilyRCWilson's Iliad, and looking back to how I felt after finishing her Odyssey (published by Edwin Morgan Trust edwinmorgantrust.com/2020/08/15/poe…)

I very much enjoyed reviewing Rapture's Road by @seanehewitt - a book that goes into dimly lit places and sings

Submissions are now open for our next journal issue, ‘Scotland’ – edited by Kathleen Jamie, Don Paterson, & @NiallCPoetry 📚 Writers are invited to submit their work *by post* FAO The Editors, Irish Pages, 129 Ormeau Road, Belfast BT7 1SH. Beir bua! irishpages.org/scotland-volum…