Amy Jo Philip
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On Friday 25th, I’ll be back at Blackwell’s to read at the launch of The Golden Hour Book ii, an anthology of poetry, prose and music (it comes with a CD) by writers and musicians who have appeared at the eponymous literary cabaret, held in The Forest Cafe. It should be a good evening. The…
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Lullaby this is the arm that held you this is the hand that cradled your cold feet these are the ears that heard you whimper and cough throughout your brush with light this is the chest that warmed you these are the eyes that caught your glimpse of life this is the man you fathered…
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Just received my contributor’s copies of Poetry Scotland issue 62. “All New Scottish” consists entirely of work by writers from Scotland who haven’t featured in the magazine before. I have two poems in there: “MacAdam’s Lament for Island Life” and “Onding”. Hard to believe, perhaps, that I’ve never been in PS, but I’d just never…
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… the posts appeared. And the comments. So welcome to Tonguefire’s new home. Everything from the old blogspot is here. The blog’s former abode still exists, but I won’t be touching it from now on. All the internal links in the old posts still point there and I sincerely doubt whether I’d ever get round…
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Blackwell’s on Thursday was a good night. A really varied bunch of perfomers — poetry, fiction, non-fiction and folk music — in a great venue, despite the traffic noise. It was a good audience, too. Heartening to see a mix of kent faces and new. Good on the bookshop for putting on such a good…
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Anyone who has read David Gaffney‘s hilarious, dark, moving and imaginative collection of micro fiction Sawn-Off Tales or who enjoyed his sawn-off operas on The Verb a while back will doubtless want to check out his Fringe show, I reckon. Click the flyer image to go to the Fringe web page for the show. ‘Office…
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On Facebook at the moment, you can vote for what you think is the most important book Salt has published. It’s a fascinating list. At the moment, Shaindel Beers is way out in front and looking unassailable. (Well done, Shaindel! It is a strong book.) Of course, importance is deeply subjective but that’s half the…
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Family circumstances mean I’m almost absent from Edinburgh this festival season, but I’ll be reading at Blackwell’s Writers at the Fringe on Thurs 20th. Rob A Mackenzie is reading there tomorrow night. There are, of course, numerous literary events going on in Edinburgh this month. I hope that I might manage to hear one of…
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The front page of Salt’s website now carries a top 20 bestsellers list and I’m delighted to say that The Ambulance Box currently comes in at 11, just above Keats (!). Here are the top 10: Tania Hershman, The White Road and Other Stories Chris Agee, Next to Nothing Shaindel Beers, A Brief History of…
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There were some strained moments last week on the Ambulance Box tour bus after the driver nearly fell asleep at the wheel in the Swiss Alps and the tour manager’s navigation nearly had us in Luxembourg rather than heading Londonward. But nobody has actually fallen out or off and, today, we reach our final stop…
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The Clockwork Gift is Claire Crowther’s second collection. It’s a rich and powerful book from a unique voice. I started off our chat by asking about the poem “Open Plan“. Andrew Philip: Welcome to Tonguefire, Claire. I love the unsettled and unsettling examination of contemporary family life in this poem. What was its genesis? Claire…
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This just in from Salt: In order to keep Salt on track through the wet British summer, we’re offering you another special deal throughout August. All Salt books are available from us at 33% discount yet again. That’s a third off all Salt titles, and free shipping on orders with a cover price of over…
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The Ambulance Box tour bus nears the end of its journey this week as I pull into Switzerland and the blog of poet, academic and musician Andrew Shields. Andrew is a tough questioner! But I enjoyed it. Click here to read his questions to me about Scots and German, my poetics and lists.
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The Bookseller is reporting good news on the Salt front: the press has managed to raise enough money to keep going through 2009 — as long, that is, as it achieves its budgeted sales for the rest of the year, which is far from a given. Which means all sales and efforts such as this…
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Kevin Cadwallender, editor of Red Squirrel Scotland, has organised an Edinburgh benefit reading for Salt. It’s at Out of the Blue arts centre, Dalmeny Street on Thursday July 30th at 7 pm. Poets include JL Williams, Rob A Mackenzie, Colin Donati, Kevin Cadwallender, James Oates, Anita Govan, Steve Urwin, Alistair Robinson and others TBC, all…
Amy Jo Philip 