Blog

Kathleen Jamie on ‘How to write a poem for a report’ (Spoiler: Contains brand new poem by our Makar!)

Artists are the bottom of the heap. So when you’ve got a chance , three minutes in the room with them, you’ve got to make the point that artists are often forgotten about,...

Utøya Thereafter

Over the space of four and a half years, and through the pandemic, Norwegian poet Endre Ruset has been working with UK poet Harry Man to write poems in memory of those who were killed during the tragic events...

Seamus Heaney and the Art Speech of Robert Burns

SPL Comms Manager Kevin Williamson on Heaney on Burns.

Poets welcomed to Online Guide by the Scottish Poetry Library

To mark St Andrews Day, the Scottish Poetry Library is adding 6 new names to its Online Guide to Scottish Poets, improving its representation of poets writing in Scots and Gaelic. Earlier this year the Library invited the public to...

Poetry Unravelled

What do Keanu Reeves, John Lennon, Cher and Kiera Knightley have in common? Read on to find out.

Push the Boat Out poetry festival 2022

Diverse, eclectic, entertaining and challenging - contemporary poetry is in pretty great shape. Push the Boat Out is a cross-genre explosion of poetry, hip hop, and spoken word; the point where artforms from spoken word, live music, hip hop,...

Dublin to Edinburgh poetry exchange

Watch Irish and Scottish young people perform poems they wrote together during a week-long exchange workshop.

The Royal Jubilee: From 1822 to 2022

James Hogg expert Dr Valentina Bold writes about the first performance of James Hogg’s play in 200 years. On December the 2nd, James Hogg’s play ‘The Royal Jubilee’ will be performed for the first time. Written on the occasion...

Happy 1st birthday Kathleen Jamie

A short film of Kathleen Jamie reflecting on her first year as Makar.

William Neill

We are marking a hundred years since the birth of he poet William Neill, with a special display, including a selection of items from our collection.

Five Days In Arbroath

by Sean Wai Keung One of the first things I learn is that Arbroath Abbey can be seen from most parts of the town. Combined with its age and grandeur, this gives the structure a towering presence. I’m here...

Poetry & Ageing Cafe

When you are old and gray and full of sleep,And nodding by the fire, take down this book,And slowly read, and dream of the soft lookYour eyes had once, and of their shadows deep; William Butler Yeats, When You...

Iona Lee in the Faroe Islands

We are an island ourselves, of course, and one that is becoming increasingly insular. We forget, at our peril, just how close we are to other cultures, and just how close those cultures are to ours.

The Bonniest Company: Makar’s Library Tour

The Makar’s Tour starts on National Poetry Day (October 5) and first stop will be Bettyhill Library in Sutherland.

Gerry Loose in Caracas

In Caracas, many of the readings were in the magnificent Teatro Bolívar, often to more than a thousand people.

The Page You Are Looking For Doesn’t Exist by Pat O’Connor

A new exhibition of paintings inspired by the glamour of cinema, free to the public during our opening hours from Wednesday 27th September until Friday 3rd November. Early Hollywood movies were a useful promotional tool for furriers and hairdressers,...

Remembering James Maley, the soldier who raised his hand

by Nazaret Ranea As a fusion of history, culture, and creativity, the Scottish Poetry Library partnered with Army at the Fringe to create a series of events featuring the participants of Scotland’s Generation of Young Makars program alongside their...

Edinburgh to Medellin with Janette Ayachi

“We need poetry because the edges are filled with darkness,” said Fernando, the poet & festival director at the inauguration ceremony of the Medellin International Poetry Festival in Colombia.   The festival is now in its 33rd year, & is deemed...

Poetry As The Gift Of Attention

Poetry bears witness – not just to the beautiful moments in life, but also to the inarticulable pains of being alive, of losing, of never having.

Kenneth White Remembered

Geopoetics is strictly of this world. Its background lies neither in myth, metaphysics, or religion. It is out to begin again, from the ground up. Taking geology as ground-level, it is a new way of being human and of living a...

Happy 115th Birthday Kathleen Raine!

Commemorating what would have been her 115th birthday, an expert panel from diverse disciplines celebrated the poet and scholar Dr Kathleen Raine (1908-2003) with a particular focus on her deep-rooted connections with Scotland. Chaired by Kirsten MacQuarrie, whose forthcoming...

Arbroath Abbey’s New Scriptorium Poetry Residencies

In association with Hospitalfield, the Arts Organisation and Residency Centre in Arbroath, and Historic Environment Scotland, the Scottish Poetry Library invited poets to apply for two 5-day writing residencies based at the New Scriptorium in the grounds of historic...