Poetry enables elagy and helps us remember the past, and those who have passed. What does this mean in public and private spheres? Attitudes of memory and memorial are integral to the work of poets Catherine Wilson Garry and Alec Finlay, and they join Kathleen Jamie and Ally Heather to explore this evocative theme. To access poetry for free in pers…

What happens when traditions get broken? When there is a movement in a family, or within a culture? Exploring the feminist tradition of picking up on lost female voices, Gerda Stevenson and Marjorie Lotfi explore this topic through their own work, guided by Kathleen Jamie and Ally Heather. To access poetry for free in person, via post, or online, p…

Scots are rightly proud of their literary heritage, but how can past work - or the canon - impact writers today? Presenters Kathleen Jamie and Ally Heather are joined by poets Titilayo Farukuoye and Alycia Pirmohamed to discuss the relationship between the canon and a fresh generation of young writers. To access poetry for free in person, via post,…

250 years since he died, Robert Fergusson is still revered and respected by the Scottish literary community. Exploring his life and work in more detail, Kathleen Jamie and Ally Heather are joined by another Robert - Robert Crawford - to learn more about his life, and untimely death. To access poetry for free in person, via post, or online, please f…

'Me and my Dad will just about manage a handshake'. Is male emotionality a barrier we have to break down? And are male friendships changing generationally? Poets Andrew Greig and Michael Pedersen join Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and Alistair Heather to examine, through their own work, how relationships between males are depicted in Scottish writi…

Multi-award winning poet Niall Campbell joins Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and host Alistair Heather on stage at the Push The Boat Out poetry festival 2023. Our theme is inheritance and tradition. To access poetry for free in person, via post, or online, please find details at the Scottish Poetry Library website here. The Lantern Scottish Poetry p…

Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and host Alistair Heather are joined in person by Brian Holton, and from Covid isolation, by TikTok poet Len Pennie. Our theme is time is solitude - in Fife and ancient China. To access poetry for free in person, via post, or online, please find details at the Scottish Poetry Library website here. The Lantern Scottish …

Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and host Alistair Heather are joined by Don Paterson and Roshni Gallagher, to share poems and chat in the Scottish Poetry Library. Our theme for this episode is water. To access poetry for free in person, via post, or online, please find details at the Scottish Poetry Library website here. The Lantern Scottish Poetry p…

Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and host Alistair Heather welcome two excellent poets to the Scottish Poetry Library. In this first episode, they share poems and discussion around the theme of reading. To access poetry for free in person, via post, or online, please find details at the Scottish Poetry Library website here. The Lantern Scottish Poetry…

Scottish Makar Kathleen Jamie and host Alistair Heather welcome some of the most vital voices in Scottish letters to Edinburgh's Scottish Poetry Library. Produced by Bespoken Media, and supported by Creative Scotland.By Scottish Poetry Library

Alec Finlay's 'today today today' reflects on illness & healing. The project combines an animation, blog, booklet, and poem-audio, created for his artist residency at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre, Glasgow. Hand-written copies of the poems were gifted to patients. The project title is after a motto composed by John Ruskin. The booklet …

Global Oracle: a work of prophetic science. Poem: Alec Finlay; sound-design: Chris Watson. The recording accompanies the book-length poem Global Oracle (morning star, 2014). As part of the same project, Finlay created an installation of bee-themed artworks at Talbot Rice Gallery in 2014, as part of the Generation series, and will create a permanent…