Scottish Writers' Centre Blog
The Scottish Writers' Centre is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, number SC040823.FINAL EVENT OF 2011
NORTHWORDS NOW LAUNCH
Thursday, 8 December
CCA Clubroom
This new Literary Magazine gives a voice to new writing from the Highlands and Islands – in Gaelic, Scots and English. It publishes poetry & fiction, articles & essays, reviews in all these voices, and more, and hopes to stimulate, intrigue and act as a focal point of cultural discussion in the Highlands. Featured readers are Niall Campbell and Ian McDonough, but there will be many more. The magazine is FREE, and copies will be available on the night.
IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED
AT 8.30pm
by
THE SWC CHRISTMAS PARTY
IN COLLABORATION WITH
St. Mungo’s Mirrorball
There will be wine, music from Gerry Cambridge and Sandy Hutchison, and a poetry raffle, so be prepared to read if your number comes out of the hat! We will also be launching the SWC Events Programme from January to March 2012, with Special Offer Memberships available. We shall also be announcing the SWC Open Writing Competition 2012.
Please note that this joint Christmas party replaces the one originally planned by the SWC for 22 December.
CANCELLATION: 27 October
We regret to announce that the Gaelic Literature Forum on Thursday, 27 October, has had to be cancelled.
Apologies for this brief post – but we are keen to get word out asap.
Upcoming events for October & membership
This Thursday, Oct 13, we are delighted to be presenting Andrew Greig, one of the leading Scottish poets of his generation, and a prizewinning novelist. He is also well-known for his writing on mountaineering. He is the author of the acclaimed That Summer (novel, 2000), This Life, This Life (poetry, 2006), and ‘Getting Higher: the Complete Mountain Poems’ (Polygon 2011). He will be reading from new collection of poems As Though We Were Flying, just published, and also from At the Loch of the Green Corrie, (2010) a memoir of a fishing trip in honour of the poet Norman MacCaig.
We are also delighted to be hosting a Gaelic/Gaidhlig Literature Forum in association with Glasgow Life, on the 27th of October. This is an opportunity for literary organisations to find out how they can work more closely with Gaelic writers and Gaelic material. There will be the opportunity to meet Gaelic writers and hear some short readings.
Both events will take place at 7pm in the CCA Clubroom, on the 2nd floor, Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3DJ. ADMISSION FREE.
We have started a membership drive, which will be formally launched in December, but for now you can join by emailing info@scottishwriterscentre.org.uk for a membership form, and sending it together with a fee of £10 for the year. Member benefits will include discounts on workshops, and admission to members-only events during the year.
HUNGARIAN EVENT: ROOM CHANGE
GERGELY NAGY
PLEASE NOTE that the Hungarian event on Thursday evening will take place in CCA 5 (and not in our usual venue, the ClubRoom).
Many of you will recall CCA 5 (on Level 1 of the CCA) from the Irish Fiction Event in late May.
Those of you interested in Gergely’s music can find examples of tracks by KimNowak and Eat Me on YouTube. We are unable to show these on Thursday, sadly.
Look forward to seeing you at the event!
SWC
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Upcoming events
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GERGELY NAGY
Hungarian Fiction Event
Thursday 29 September 2011, 7–8.30pm
CCA, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3JD
CCA5 (Level 1)
ADMISSION FREE
Donations welcome
Gergely Nagy
Hungarian author Gergely Nagy has published three books: the short story collections Give Me A Point! and LOUD!and, more recently, the novel Angst: Handbook of the Urban Guerilla (2007). He is currently working on a book based on the stories of his ancestors. Gergely is also a journalist, an editor, and a bass guitarist. His band, KimNowak,made six albums in ten years. He currently plays for Eat Me. SWC’s own Donal McLaughlin will read from translations of Gergely’s work.
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Thursday 13 October 2011, 7–8.30pm
CCA, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3JD
Club Room (Level 2)
ADMISSION FREE
Donations welcome
Andrew Greig
Andrew Greig is recognized as one of the leading Scottish poets of his generation, having written six volumes of poetry. He is also well-known for his writing on mountaineering, based on his climbing experiences in Scotland and the Himalayas. His acknowledged classic in mountaineering literature, Kingdoms of Experience, has recently been reissued by Canongate.
His first novel, Electric Brae, was shortlisted for the McVitie’s Prize and the Boardman-Tasker Award, and his second, The Return of John MacNab, was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelist’s Award and topped the Scottish bestseller lists in 1996. He is also the author of the acclaimed When They Lay Bare (1999) and That Summer (2000), This Life, This Life (2006), and ‘Getting Higher: the Complete Mountain Poems’ (Polygon 2011).
Andrew now lives in Orkney and the Lothians. He was Writer-in-Residence at Glasgow University from 1979-1981, and at Edinburgh University from 1992-1994. He will be reading from new collection of poems As Though We Were Flying, just published, and also from At the Loch of the Green Corrie, (2010) a memoir of a fishing trip in honour of the poet Norman MacCaig.
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SEPTEMBER DATES – AMENDED
Our September events continue with David Manderson on the 15th and Hungarian novelist Gergely Nagy on the 29th.
PLEASE BE AWARE that this order of events is different from that first flagged back in the early summer. The revised details are:
DAVID MANDERSON
Lost Bodies
Thursday 1 September 2011, 7–8.30pm
CCA, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3JD
Club Room (Level 2)
ADMISSION FREE
Donations welcome
David Manderson
David Manderson is a teacher at UWS, and a member of the SWC. He has published widely in magazines and anthologies and runs Reading Allowed at the Tchai Ovna tea-house. He won a prize for an idea for a novel from the Scottish Arts Council, and was awarded a Ph.D. for the finished product. He will read from Lost Bodies, his resulting debut: a dark, chilling, psychological thriller.
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GERGELY NAGY
Hungarian Fiction Event
Thursday 29 September 2011, 7–8.30pm
CCA, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3JD
Club Room (Level 2)
ADMISSION FREE
Donations welcome
Gergely Nagy
Hungarian author Gergely Nagy has published three books: the short story collections Give Me A Point! and LOUD! and, more recently, the novel Angst: Handbook of the Urban Guerilla (2007). He is currently working on a book based on the stories of his ancestors. Gergely is also a journalist, an editor, and a bass guitarist. His band, KimNowak, made six albums in ten years. He currently plays for Eat Me. SWC’s own Donal McLaughlin will read from translations of Gergely’s work.
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Those of you who missed the opening event of our autumn season – with deaf short story writer Louise Stern, the author of Chattering (Granta) - can catch up with Louise and her sign language interpreter Oliver Pouliot at the Wigton Book Festival on Saturday, 24 September. We wish Louise and Oliver all the best for what is sure to be another excellent event.
Louise Stern
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SWC events normally finish by 8.30pm – but discussions can continue in the CCA bar.
The Scottish Writers’ Centre is grateful to the CCA and to Glasgow Life (formerly known as Culture & Sport Glasgow) for their generous support of its work.
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SWC Autumn programme up!
We’re very excited about the September/October programme for SWC at the CCA. We kick off with deaf artist and writer Louise Stern, author of Chattering: Stories, together with her sign language interpreter, on September 1st. A programme of readings every other Thursday then follows, with Hungarian author, journalist and Eat Me bass player Gergely Nagy on the 15th, and David Manderson launching his debut novel, the terrifying Lost Bodies, on the 29th – the first full-length novel in Scotland to result in a doctorate! Gergely’s work will be translated into English by SWC’s own Donal McLaughlin.
In October we are very pleased to be welcoming leading Scottish poet and novelist Andrew Greig on the 13th to read from As Though We Were Flying, a newly published poetry collection, and At the Loch of the Green Corrie, (2010) a memoir of a fishing trip in honour of the late poet Norman MacCaig. On the 27th October the SWC will play host to a Gaelic/Gaidhlig Literature Forum, to discuss how literary organisations can work more closely with Gaelic writers and material. Anyone interested in Scottish Literature, Gaelic Literature and language and their promotion will be able to meet Gaelic writers, hear some short readings, and talk about this vital topic. More detail to follow.
Thereafter we will be presenting readings and workshops on a regular basis every two weeks, always on a Thursday, in response to feedback from audience members, who found our 2010-11 programme wonderful but very exhausting, as did we with up to four events a month! We look forward to seeing you back at the CCA in September. You can keep up-to-date with Scottish Writers’ Centre news, events and more on facebook by joining the SWC fb group. Happy holidays!
Summer at the SWC and plans going forward
June sees the final few events for the Scottish Writers’ Centre before the summer break. 9th June saw a wonderful performance workshop from outstanding performance poet Anita Govan, whose most recent performances have involved a new collaboration with Dr Rhythm and his Magic Box (drummer, Paul Mills) of music and multi-voiced poetry. The 16th saw the Nor’wester Showcase from the Clydebuilt Apprentices, a poetry scheme run by the currently homeless Mirrorball and Glasgow city Council. Amy Anderson, Janine McEwan, Kathrine Sowerby, Liz Bassett & Geoff Cooper have all been working under the mentorship of SWC Chair Gerry Loose. It was a memorable and powerful set of performances by five very different poets. Janine’s presence was vivid even though her words were necessarily spoken by another, and her comparison of her physical condition and mental aliveness with the city of Glasgow was loudly applauded. Coming up on the 23rd we have Scottish PEN launching the new PENning for Courage magazine, and on the 30th we finish with an evening of Scottish Island poets. Our AGM on the 16th reflected on how far SWC has come in the last year, and plans for the future look very exciting – a membership launch, a series of workshops, and readings from deaf author Louise Stern (Chattering) and Hungarian author Gergely Nagy. More detail on the AGM will follow – hope to see you at another event before June is out!
IRISH COUNTERPARTS: Reading
April and May have been especially busy for the Scottish Writers’ Centre – with events that have been attracting more and more praise from audiences: Tom Leonard‘s presentation of his recent work, which included fascinating glimpses of early drafts; the launch of David Kinloch‘s latest collection, Finger Of A Frenchman (Carcanet); an Iraqi Fiction event that focused on the work of Abbas Khider and Kusay Hussain & Sue Reid Sexton; then Ryan Van Winkle with poets from Syria, Lebanon and Scotland; not forgetting the latest Writers’ Discussion Group sessions led by David Manderson (‘Creative Writing in Education’) and Satya Dunning (‘Words and Movement’). ‘You’ve got to get them back again!’ are words we’re getting used to hearing!
Our final event in May is an Irish Fiction Event, at which Jack Harte and Éilís Ni Dhuibhne – two colleagues involved in the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin – will read. Full details below – but please note that the reading on Thursday, 26 May, will not be held in the Clubroom, but in CCA 5 (Level 1 at the CCA).
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IRISH FICTION EVENT:
JACK HARTE & EILIS NI DHUIBHNE
Thursday, 26 May, 7-8.30pm
CCA, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow, G2 3J
CCA 5 (Level 1)
ADMISSION FREE / Donations Welcome
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Jack Harte
Jack Harte is Chairman of the Irish Writers’ Centre. His most recent book is Unravelling the Spiral a memoir/biography of the sculptor Fred Conlon. His fiction includes the collection of stories, From Under Gogol’s Nose and the novels, In the wake of the Bagger and Reflections in a Tar-Barrel. Further info on www.jackharte.com
Éilís Ni Dhuibhne
Éilís Ni Dhuibhne was born in Dublin. She has written eight novels, five collections of short stories, several books for children, plays and non-fiction work. Her short story collections include Midwife to the Fairies, The Inland Ice, and The Pale Gold of Alaska. Her novel The Dancers Dancing was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her stories are widely anthologized and translated. Éilís teaches on the MA in Creative Writing at UCD. She is a member of Aosdana.
Do come along and enjoy these Irish voices!
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Events will normally finish by 8.30pm – but discussions can continue in the bar.
The Scottish Writers’ Centre is grateful to the CCA and to Glasgow Life (formerly Culture & Sport Glasgow) for their generous support of its work.
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Events for March
It’s a busy month for SWC! We had the Aye Write – Scottish Writing Groups Showcase with Let’s Get Lyrical at the Mitchell, which was a great success, and an interesting Writers Group Discussion on Poetry and Songwriting which quickly turned into a jam! Next up we have the
Long Poem Magazine Launch22 March · 19:00 in the Clubroom at the CCA, including an unpublished poem by Edwin Morgan. SWC have a slot at the
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A complete list of events can be found here: http://scottishwriterscentre.org.uk/index.php?page=news-and-events
