Seven Makar-ish Things
19 February 2022
A Makarship must give you time to write, it should suggest how to turn that into a performance or a publication, and, ideally, fund it. Such a set-up understands that the writer, their community, heritage, and artistic peers are all equals.The SPL Spring 2018 events programme
13 January 2018
The nip in the air might not seem particularly spring-like to you; nevertheless, the SPL boldly brings you news of our Spring 2018 programme of events. And, my goodness, what a programme. We’re proud to present a bill stuffed...
The God Damn Debut Slam
14 December 2017
We're putting the finishing touches to our spring programme of events, which, trust me, will be worth the wait. A mix of poets even your friend who doesn't care much for poetry will have heard of, international visitors, and...The Thursday Post: Celebrate Muriel Spark with the SPL in February
7 December 2017
Muriel Spark is best known as a novelist, the author of 22 works of fiction that includes classics such as The Girls of Slender Means, The Driver’s Seat and, of course, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. She was...
The Thursday Post: Poetry Cafe of Reminiscence
26 October 2017
Death is a bummer. Few people want to think about it, whether their own death or that of others. And, yet, as a wise person once said, in the midst of life we are in death, and there’s no...The Thursday Post: Our EIBF highlights
2 August 2017
Image: Edinburgh International Book Festival by felibrilu, under a Creative Commons licenceThe Thursday Post: Ian Hamilton Finlay Symposium
15 June 2017
Next month, the University of Edinburgh stages the first dedicated symposium on Ian Hamilton Finlay. Eleven years after his death, Finlay continues to fascinate and inspire. A poet and visual artist, Finlay forged one of the most distinctive bodies...The Thursday Post: Wilfred Owen’s Edinburgh 1917-2017
1 June 2017
A century ago, the war poet Wilfred Owen spent summer and autumn in Edinburgh, recovering from shellshock. Owen’s stay in Edinburgh in 1917 proved to be a turning point in the history of English literature, for it’s here that...The Thursday Post: Our Gaelic Weekend
20 April 2017
Fàilte! The Scottish Poetry Library is delighted to announce a weekend of Gaelic events on 13 and 14 May to tie in with the Edinburgh Local Mòd, which is taking place at Bun-sgoil Taobh na Pàirce (Parkside Primary School)...
An Eventful Spring
6 March 2017
Today, the Scottish Poetry Library launches a programme of events that will take place over this spring and into summer. Featuring poets from Russia, the programme also finds space for a rare Scottish appearance by ‘the godfather of psychogeography’...
Filmpoesie
26 September 2016
On Tuesday 4 October, 6pm, the SPL hosts Filmpoesie, a night of film and poetry. The origins of the ‘filmpoem’ stretch back to 1936 and Night Mail, Watt and Bright’s collaboration with W.H. Auden. Since then, the likes of...The Thursday Post: Open Book
12 July 2016
On 10 August, the SPL hosts its first Open Book, an all-poetry shared reading group. During the weekly sessions on Wednesdays (1pm), the group will discuss poetry and listen to it read aloud by an expert who will guide the...Trans Europe Expression
19 May 2016
There have been better periods in which to share a love of all things European. One would have to have dwelt in a hermitage of late to avoid the wave of often negative stories related to the continent. Yet...