Stellar line-up for Poetry in the Persian Tent/Old MacDonald charity event, Festival of Spirituality and Peace, 2012

Venue:

St John's Church, Edinburgh, 22nd-26th August, 11am-12pm

Poetry in the Persian Tent, has gone Mega. Ballistic! Hyperbolical words fail me.. The line-up of poets who have agreed to perform has, day by day, got better and better, grown, indeed like Topsy,  until the final programme is quite staggering:

Liz Lochhead
Photo credit: Norman MacBeath

Jackie Kay

                                                          Scotland's Makar, Liz Lochhead, and  Jackie Kay, our  two 'national
                                                           treasures',

John Glenday
Photo credit: 

John Glenday, short-listed for the international mega-prize, the Griffin (dare I say, even more prestigious than the T.S. Eliot),
Vicki Feaver, whose visceral poetry has a terrific fan-base, 
Aonghas MacNeacail, our leading Gaelic poet and  Stewart Conn, well-known and well-loved, former Edinburgh Makar are our headliners, a different one each of the five days...(though Liz is performing twice.)
plus other rising stars and up and coming poets from all round Scotland and musical interludes from a varied and brilliant range of musicians and singers.

Vicki Feaver
Photo credit: Alisdair Young

Stewart Conn
Photo credit: Jemimah Kuhfield

and mind, they are all performing without a fee, as it's for a wonderful charity (Old MacDonald had a Farm for Africa/Oxfam).
Many, many thanks to them all.

Aonghas MacNeacail
Photo credit: Kevin MacNeil

See the event web-site for the schedule of performers : Poetry in the Persian Tent


There's  a Facebook page so do send it round all your poetry-loving friends.
Poetry in the Persian Tent

Booking opens in a few days.  Book early.
All booking details on the event web-page: Poetry in the Persian Tent
Further info on the full festival of Spirituality and Peace on
www.festivalofspirituality.org.uk

Wee Nippy Sweeties

A copy of 'Clockworks' with my poem 'Wee Nippy Sweeties' arrived through the post this week.  Great to be published in the company of stories (flash or short) by illustrious writers such as Alan Bissett, Zoe Strachan and Louise Welsh.  I gather the booklet is to be distributed throughout carriages on the Glasgow Subway - the pieces not to be framed on the wall along with the adverts, as I had originally thought.

The pieces are various lengths - timed as one stop, two or even up to seven stop pieces, meaning the time it takes to read.  People are requested not to take the book home but leave it for other travellers.
Well, we'll see how long that altruistic plan lasts!

Look out for it if you take the Clockwork (Subway).