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<taps mic slightly nervously> Well, erm, hello. It’s been a while. Yes, I know pretty much every post on this blog has begun with some sort of variation on that theme for the past several years, but this one is a bit different. Trust me. Though, heaven knows, I wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t.
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Here I come, striding through the virtual tumbleweed of this website to bring you intimation of an event. I will be reading alongside Peter Daniels and Kirsten Irving at Typewronger Books in Edinburgh on Sunday 8 September at 7 pm. More details when they emerge. [Exit, vanishing into dust storm and tumbleweed. Or digital static.]
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Thanks to Robert Peake, I’m in the Huff again. That is, his interview with me and Rob A Mackenzie is now available in the culture section of the Huffington Post’s UK edition. I am hugely grateful to Robert for taking the time to ask us some penetrating and stimulating questions. In other news, I’ll be
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It has been on my mind to blog about the Newcastle trip and the book launch, but I’ve been tied up this past week writing this review of John F Deane’s selected poems, Snow Falling on Chestnut Hill. It’s the first review I’ve written for a few years, but I enjoyed the experience. I’d be
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Just over a fortnight ago, I received the following message from Claire Askew: For nearly a year, as well as doing my teaching job, I’ve also been doing some work with an organisation called Women Supporting Women. WSW is a not-for-profit community organisation that provides resources and services to vulnerable women and girls in Edinburgh.
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Irish Pages invites you to a 10th anniversary celebration at Summerhall in Edinburgh on Saturday coming. Expect an evening of traditional music, revelry, mayhem and craic, including brief entertainments by Irish and Scottish writers and, of course, a cash bar. Download the pdf invitation here.
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UPDATED 16/08/11 (First published 10/05/11) For a wee while now, I’ve been posting original tonguetwisters on Twitter every now and then. It’s great fun! I love the way it engages and exercises not only my writing brain but my linguistics brain, which is much less used these days. I love the leaven of levity and
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Well, August is shaping up to be a rather busy month, isn’t it? Will I remain sane? Who knows. Still, it’ll be fun. Especially the somewhat madcap event I’ve cooked up for the Inky Fingers Minifest along with Rob A Mackenzie and Helen Ivory. Entitled “A Knife Fight in a Telephone Box”, it’s a battle
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Silly me: in yesterday’s post, I forgot to include the all-important details of time and entry charge for the reading on 16 August. So, here we go: Where: Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. When: Tuesday 16 August, 7:30 pm for 8 pm. How much: £3.00 And let’s not forget the fantastic line-up of poets: Isobel Dixon, Rob
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I’ve been thinking about performance a little since last Wednesday’s slam. Whatever else one thinks of the evening, there’s no doubt in my mind that the best performer won. Young Dawkins, who was constantly reminded — to the point that it scunnered him — that he was the Scottish slam champion 2011, carried the crown.
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I’ve just noticed that this blog has reached 500 comments! That momentous moment seemed worthy of passing … er … comment.
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The World Book Night event at St John’s on Saturday didn’t go quite as planned. David’s books hadn’t arrived on time. Instead, he had two boxes of Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights — somewhat ironically, given Pullman’s views on religion — and one of John Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Still, with
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My contributor’s copy of Gutter 4 arrived the other day and very good it looks too! I’ve not had time to delve into the contents, but I’m very pleased to share the pages with such a vibrant mix of writers, from newcomers to leading names of the new generation and senior masters such as Alexander
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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010 and sent a a high-level summary of its overall blog health. I thought it might make a nicely self-indulgent start to 2011, not least because I’m a bit on the wabbit side to think of much else to post at the
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I can tell you there was none more surprised than I to find this afternoon that The Ambulance Box is not only still in Salt’s current Top 10 bestsellers but has bounced merrily into the top 5 at number 3, coming up just behind Philip Gross’s children’s poetry book, Off Road to Everywhere. In the
Amy Jo Philip 