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Push the Boat Out poetry festival

12 October 2021

Blog

Push the Boat Out poetry festival starts this Friday

Push The Boat Out (PTBO) is Scotland’s newest poetry festival. As one of their partners, the Scottish Poetry Library asked them to write for our blog.

“We are inspired by the vibrancy and range of contemporary poetry, hip hop, and spoken word coming out of Scotland, the UK, and further afield. Our aim is to not only give poetry a new platform, but to create an environment where all variations of this vital artform are encouraged to grow, evolve and even collide. We want to boundary-bend and explore fresh, inventive ways to bring poetry and audiences together by challenging perceptions of what poetry is and how it can be enjoyed.  

Underpinning the festival are four key themes: social justice and representation; healing and recovery; climate crisis and ecopoetics; and virtual and other realities. Audiences can expect first-class performances from around 60 poets, emerging and established, including Harry Josephine Giles launching their instant-classic Deep Wheel Orcadia; Raymond Antrobus launching his latest, powerful collection All The Names Given; and, from newly minted Edinburgh Makar Hannah Lavery, a specially commissioned live performance of Blood, Salt, Spring (in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland). There are readings and discussions, artist talks, workshops, sound and vision installations, fantastic poet double-bills, artist takeovers and the best in Scottish rap and hip-hop.

PTBO is taking place within the creative spaces of Summerhall in Edinburgh, seeping into every nook and cranny of this established arts venue through multiple means – film, imagery, music, dance, debate and other forms of poetry performance. We have also commissioned over seventy poems for our free web app ‘A Poetry Mile’, on which users can experience Edinburgh differently, filtered through the eyes and ears of some of the country’s finest poets. The app generates bespoke walking tours depending on user preferences and will be available long after our festival is over.

We would love for you to join us in-person or online, through our extensive and exciting programme – which you can find here.”

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